Tables Will Turn
by TriniGalAA
Summary: The team has to move to a new place, where they encounter some old friends, who intend to shake thing up a bit. (Dom/Letty, and Original characters) finally NEW CHAPTER feb 11/03 - please R
1. The Meeting

Prologue

Prologue

Dionne stared at the time. She had to back to work soon and there was no sign of Kia. She sighed. She was probably out with Flex. Dionne was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. She didn't even know why she had said she would stand in for Kia on her lunch break. She turned her head swiftly at the sound of something crashing. Oh shit!

She looked around anxiously, where was Carla??

She walked swiftly through to the back room. " Carla, honey where are you?"

Carla turned as she saw her aunt looking around. Uh oh, she was in trouble. She looked down at the mannequin that had fallen and broken into three different pieces. She quickly stepped in front of it and put on her, " I didn't mean to" smile. 

Dionne looked at all the clothes strewn around on the floor in horror. Kia was going to kill her! Damn, this child could find a mess out of nowhere. She looked down at Carla's pouty expression then looked back up at the time. It was 12:50. She had ten minutes to clean up the mess before Kia got back and she had to drop Carla off at Dwayne's.

"Carla, what happened?"

"Nothin' auntie Dee, I was tryna make the people look pretty and then it fell and. . . . . ." Carla stopped talking when she saw her aunt trying to clean up in a hurry. 

Dee sighed, there was no time to bother pointing out that Carla knew better than to play with the mannequins. "It's a'ight, just help me clean it up."

Carla tried to help, but ended up making more of mess, so she stood in the corner impatiently watching her aunt. She wished she could see daddy already. But he was always so busy, she hated staying at the store there was nothing to do there. 

Dee finished cleaning up, when she heard the door chime. Ah shit! Kia was back. Oh well, she'd done the best she could. She hurried Carla out of the back and into the front of the store and instead of seeing Kia it was Dwayne.

Dwayne ran his cold eyes over Dee and then moved them down until he was looking at Carla. Warmth crept into him when he looked at his little girl and a rare smile broke out on his face. She was the spitting image of him. Thank god she didn't look like her mother, he didn't think he could handle it. 

Dee looked at Dwayne, he didn't smile often but when he did, it always felt as though somebody had punched her in the gut.

Dwayne opened his arms as Carla flung herself into them. "Hey Stinky, how was your day? Did you misbehave?"

Carla rolled her eyes at her father. "I know you know that my name ain't Stinky, daddy!" 

Dwayne raised his eyebrows not in surprise of his daughter's attitude, but amazement.

"I was a good girl today . . ." She looked over at her aunt, waiting for her to tell on her. 

Dee smirked when she heard Carla's reply. Sure Carla was a good girl, when she didn't have her hands in anything.

She nodded, "Yeah, she was a'ight. . ."

Dwayne looked up when he heard Dee speak. He nodded at her in greeting. "Where's Kia? Aren't you supposed to be at the bank today?"

Dee grimaced. Somehow no matter what, he could never give her a hello. She should be used to it by now. It was nothin' new. She worked at a bank, so should have been taking _her_ break, but instead she had agreed to help Kia 

out. . ._again_. 

"Uh huh, but Kia asked me to help her out." She picked up her bag and looked at her watch. Damn! She was going to be late for the rest of her shift if she didn't leave now. 

Dwayne noticed her looking at the time and guessed she was runnin' late. " You can go, I'll hold it down till Kia gets back." He turned his head as he heard the door chimes again. Thinking it was Kia.

Dee glanced behind Dwayne, and saw a girl about her age walk through the door. She had glasses on, low on her nose and her hair had been pulled back into a messy ponytail. Behind her another girl and two guys walked in. 

Letty walked in the store with Mia, Dom and Leon. Since they had gotten here, they couldn't find a store that sold anything she wanted to wear. She only hoped this "Coast 2 Coast" store was better than "Skanks-R-Us." She looked up as she saw a black guy about Dom's height with a little girl, and another chick about her height. She glanced away and started looking around.

Dwayne turned his cold eyes back to Dee. " Go, I got it here." He moved Carla to his other arm and reached into his pocket for a $50, and handed it to Dee. " Here, for helpin' Kia out and bus money or somethin'"

Dee stared at Dwayne, her lips tightening. "Since, when have I ever taken' money from you _Ice_. that's a'ight."

Dwayne had known before he'd offered the money she would say no. She always did, it didn't matter what the circumstances. 

Carla looked between her auntie and her dad. She could feel his attention being drawn away from her. 

"Daddy, can we go now?"

Dwayne looked down, the warmth returning to his eyes. "Just a minute, shorty."

Letty had been cruisin' through the racks, already findin' quite a few things. The place wasn't half as bad as she thought. Her ears perked upwhen she heard the black guy utter the word "shorty". Where had she heard that voice before? She glanced at him, he was talking to the little girl he was holding. She was definitely his, they looked almost identical. 

He had a shaved head, like Dom and he was tall. It wasn't so much his height that made you notice him. It was more the coldness in him. It also helped that he wasn't ugly. 

Something tugged at Letty. There was something about him that seemed familiar. She glanced at the door when she heard the door chimes again. She saw Dom walk out and a beautiful black girl come in with an equally beautiful black guy behind her. Letty whistled under her breath. 

Kia stormed through the door, Flex behind her. She hoped Dee didn't mind. It wasn't like Dee _needed_ to go anywhere anyways. She could never understand why Dee didn't just quit her stupid job and stay with the rest of the crew. But whatever, it wasn't her problem. 

"Hey Dee, sorry I'm late, Flex and I had lunch at the little Cuban restaurant around the corner, and then the time just flew by. . ." She stopped when she noticed her brother holding her niece. 

"Oh hey Dwayne. She moved behind Dwayne to greet her niece."C.K., did you cause any trouble today?" 

Letty lifted her eyebrow at the distantly familiar name. She could almost place the guy.

Carla rolled her eyes once again. Why did everyone always ask her that? She never did anything, most of the time. 

"My name is Carla Kashay Holden. C-R-A-L-A." Smiling 'cause she thought she knew how to spell her name. 

Flex laughed out loud, his dimple appearing."Come 'ere C.K." 

Kia rolled her eyes, " If you're gonna have all that attitude at least learn how to spell your name!"

Carla moved toward her Uncle Flex, and stuck her tongue out at her aunt. " Uncle Flex, can you take me to get some ice cream, daddy's taking too long. 'Cause um we had to wait for Auntie K and then Auntie Dee . . ."

Flex tickled Carla to quiet her. He smiled at her enthusiasm. " A'ight, a'ight. . . A yo Ice, you still coming to that thing tonight?"

Dwayne greeted his best friend and nodded his head. " Fo sho'." 

Dwayne looked around as Kia came out of the back and started helping a customer. He had forgotten the customers for a second. He turned his head as he felt someone staring at him, his cold eyes turning on Letty. Briefly looking her up and down he dismissed her. She was hot, but wasn't his type. 

As soon as Letty met his eyes, she recognized him. 

Dee stood in the corner, waiting for everyone to dispense with the greetings. She would have left already but, she had missed the bus. She hoped she could catch a ride with Flex. She glanced at her watch again. She only had 5 minutes to get back to work. It was a good thing she had an extended lunch today. 

Flex flung Carla up in the air, smiling at her squeals of laughter. Finally settling her down on the ground in front of him, he finally noticed Dee standing in the corner looking at her watch. Sometimes, it was so weird they way she always tried to fade into the background. 

"Oh hey Dee, need a ride to work?"

Dee's face broke into a relieved smile. "Yeah, thanks for lookin' out."

"Forget it. Come on C.K. let's go drop Auntie Dee off and get some of that Ice cream." Flex hoisted Carla up onto his shoulders and walked over to Kia, who was ringing in a customers purchase. 

"Bye, baby" He kissed her swiftly on the lips. 

Kia kissed him back and smiled. "Bye!" She playfully pulled on Carla's hair. "Bye, miserable!"

Dwayne looked over at Dee; he had forgotten she still needed to go to work. "Hey Flex, I'll drive Dee, I gotta be over that way anyways." He looked at Dee as if to ask her ok. She nodded.

"A'ight then, Peace everyone." Carla leaned over and gave her daddy a kiss and continued to bop up and down on her uncle's shoulders, out the door. 

Dee was a little apprehensive driving with Dwayne, he always drove so fast, and at times it was a little scary. She followed Flex and Dwayne out the door, waving a goodbye to Kia. She turned as she thought she heard Kia yell Dwayne's name. 

"Dwayne!" Letty stared at Dwayne as he turned around and glanced around to find out who called his name. She remembered him. She could feel Mia frowning at her. 

Dwayne glanced swiftly at the girl. Knowing that it wasn't Kia who called him. His eyes turned even colder than before. He didn't like people using his first name other than his crew. Everyone in the state of Florida knew that. Obviously this chick didn't.His name was _Ice_ to everyone else. He narrowed his eyes in her direction. 

Letty's stare didn't waver. She knew who he was. " Long time no see D Money."

Dwayne's eyes flickered from brief confusion to faint recognition of his old nickname. No one had called him that since he was 14. Even then he only let one person say it . . . 

"Ari . . .??" Dwayne asked confusedly.

Letty grinned. "It's Letty now"

Dwayne watched her face, noticing the changes and how different she looked. But he could tell she hadn't lost her tough girl edge. He was almost speechless.

Dionne watched the exchange, covertly. She could tell Dwayne didn't consider this girl a threat by the way he was standing. It was probably the first time she had ever seen him speechless. She felt the beginnings of a tightness in her stomach. 

Letty saw too his speechlessness and laughed out loud. "What no hug??"

Dwayne crossed the space between them and basically picked her up off the floor in a bear hug. 

Kia watched in amazement. Wondering how a girl who he had just seen after who knows how long, could get him to show the outward emotion that he only showed with C.K. She tried to place the girl but still couldn't.

Letty wheezed at the power of his hug. "Slow down patner!" She removed herself from his embrace and glanced up as the door chimes rang again and saw Dom walk through. 

Everyone turned his or her heads. 

Dionne sucked in her breath at the sight of him. She had seen him come in earlier, but hadn't really noticed him with Dwayne in the room. My God! He was beautiful. In some ways he resembled Dwayne. The shaved head, body mass, the height. His magnetism emanated from him.

Dom's eyes narrowed at the sight of Letty moving out of the other man's embrace. He walked toward Letty. Staring at the other man, while sizing him up. He moved his brown eyes back to Letty.

"What's taking so long?? "

Letty almost rolled her eyes at him but managed to hold herself back. With a lot of difficulty. "He doesn't look familiar to you Dom??"

As soon as Ari or Letty said the other man's name. Dwayne remembered him. " Dominic Torretto, been awhile . . ."

Dom stared at the other guy still not recognizing him. 

Kia immediately recognized Dominic. She moved from behind the counter. "Oh hell no! It couldn't be Ari Sanchez and Dominic Torretto!" She moved to stand beside her brother. Until all four of them were facing each other.Kia broke out into a grin. 

"Told you I'd be taller than you Ari!"

Letty smiled. "It's Letty now!" It was Dwayne's sister. She remembered them pretty well. They had all lived next to each other. Kia, Mia and her had been best friends. 

Mia ran up to Kia and engulfed her in a hug. "Oh my gosh, KIA!!"

Dionne was the only one who didn't know everyone and felt oddly left out.She was beyond late now, she might as well not go. She'd just have to phone and apologize later on. She stood hanging in the background clutching her purse. She hadn't being in places where she didn't belong. 

The three girls hugged each other. While Dom and Dwayne hung back and nodded to one another. 

Dwayne caught Letty's attention. " What are you guys doing out here?"

Something flashed in Letty's eyes briefly before she answered. "Had a little trouble, decided to move out east."

Dwayne narrowed his eyes at her, but nodded. Only accepting that answer for now. He heard feet shuffling behind him, and remembered Dee. He turned to her and motioned her to come over to him.

"This is Dionne Hernandez." Motioning his head to her. "Dionne these are some friends from L.A. Letty, Mia and Dominic."

Dionne smiled shyly, not attempting to shake anyone's hand. She really wanted to leave. They probably wanted to talk about old times or something. She noticed Letty eyeing her up and down. She turned to Dwayne.

"So, I think I'll leave you guys and head on home. . ."

Dwayne lifted his eyebrow. " I thought you said you had to work?" He then looked down at his watch and nodded absently, noting the late time. 

"Sorry 'bout that, but I said I'd drive you home ok." 

Noting the tone of voice that meant "there's no question about it" she nodded. "Ok, well I'll just wait outside. Nice meetin' ya'll." She quickly walked out of the store, after to nodding to Kia in goodbye. 

Dwayne stared after her, then turned to Letty. "Ok, I gotta bounce but..." Turning to Kia. "Give them the address, and then ya'll can drop by the crib tomorrow if you want."

"A'ight, we'll drop by. . ." Letty stared quietly at Dwayne, wondering if he could somehow help them. 

"Peace." Dwayne glanced at everyone in acknowledgement and then left. 

Dom stared at the closing door, wondering if Dwayne could let them in on some things out here in Florida. Rubbing his head, he motioned to Letty that it was time to go. 

"A'ight girl, we'll bounce by yo house tomorrow a'ight?"

Kia looked up from talking with Mia. "Ok, I guess I'll be checkin' ya'll tomorrow then, peace." She hugged Mia, and smiled at Letty and Dom. Her eyes lingering on him. 

Letty noticed this and raised her eyebrow, but didn't say anything. There would be time for establishing her place tomorrow.She led her way to the door. 


	2. The Other Team

Tables Will Turn-Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Dionne ran into her house and straight to the kitchen to pour herself something to drink. She had to catch her breath. Dammit! If she wasn't so fat she wouldn't have to run this hard all the time. Drinking her water she kicked off her shoes and continued on her way to her room.

Dionne plopped herself on her bed.Shit! She didn't know why she let Jordan talk her into things all the time! She didn't want to go to the stupid get together. Yesterday, Dwayne had told her to come when he gave her a ride home, but she refused. She had always been uncomfortable at these things. She closed her eyes, wincing at the times when her parents used make her stay upstairs, while her sister got to stay downstairs for the reunions. It was as if the were ashamed of her.

She shook her head, ridding herself of thoughts she knew wouldn't get her anywhere. Dionne turned her head and looked at the small clock hanging over her bed. She only had 2 hours to get ready.She had a feeling that tonight wasn't going to be a good night, at least for her. 

C.K. ran up the stairs, daddy had told her to tell D.A. that they would be having company. But she didn't think D.A. would want to come down.C.K. frowned, D.A. didn't like staying with them but she hoped she didn't leave. Auntie Dee, had told her that D.A. had come from a foster family. Whatever that was. 

D.A. could hear C.K. coming up the stairs and opened the door to see her cousin standing there. Damn, the child was loud. 

"What do you want?"

C.K. looked taken aback to see her cousin already had the door open apparently waiting for her. "How'd you know I was gonna talk wit you?" C.K. raised her eyebrow in speculation. 

D.A. rolled her eyes. Why did this child, feel that she had to know everything? "I _heard_ you C.K. Now what do you want?"

C.K. looked confused for a moment, like she'd forgotten why she had come to see her. Her eyebrows lifted as she remembered. "Oh yeah, daddy said people are coming for dinner, so you have to get ready."

D.A. grimaced. Fuck! Why did they have to have company tonight? She was already having PMS, she didn't need this shit! "Tell him I'll go stay with Dee for dinner."

C.K. shook her head. She smiled, she had told daddy D.A. wouldn't want to stay. "Daddy, said you had to be ready or he's gonna come upstairs, and you're gonna be in trouble . . ."

D.A. hung her head in defeat. Ice knew she didn't like fuckin' get togethers. 

". . .and Auntie Dee's coming anyways, so you can't go to her house."

"Alright, I'll be down soon. Do you need me to help you get something on?"

C.K. shook her head. "Nuh uh, I can do it all by myself."

D.A. rolled her eyes again. The last time she had let Carla dress herself, she had come out of her room wearing purple sandals, and her little bra top. Carla, tried to wear as little as possible. She smiled, her cousin sure thought she was hot stuff for a five year old. 

" Ok how 'bout this C.K., I'll just watch you ok . . ." 

C.K. narrowed her eyes as D.A. pushed her into the room with her. Maybe she _wouldn't_ be able to wear her bootie shorts tonight

  


Jordan parked his bike in the driveway, and walked into the house.He had to phone Dee, as soon as he got in, to make sure she was coming tonight. He frowned as he thought of her obsessive need to exercise. Fuck! It was all her parents fault, oh yeah and don't forget her sister for belittling her every chance she got. 

Jordan walked into the kitchen to see Kia straddling his cousin Flex. He groaned. "Holy shit! Don't you guys know to go to your room to do this shit!!"

Keeping his eyes closed, Jordan could her Kia laughing. He opened the fridge and grabbed a beer. 

Kia got off of Flex and sat in the chair next to him. "Flex baby, I think we embarrassed yo' cousin." 

Flex rolled his eyes. Knowing he'd seen worse when it came to Jordan, but deciding not to mention it. "I'm pretty sure he can handle it!!"

Jordan smirked and opened his eyes. He knew exactly what Flex was talking about. "Yeah whatever next time, go to your room." He jumped up on sat on the kitchen counter facing them.

"Is Dee here yet?"

Flex looked at the time and shook his head. "Nah, but she should be here soon . . ."

D.A. came down the stairs C.K. trailing behind. " Who should be here soon?" She said, while looking in the fridge for a beer too. 

Flex smirked at D.A. " Nice try, _Alicia_!" He reached over and grabbed the beer from her. " Dee's coming soon."

D.A. narrowed her eyes and she freezed. She turned slowly around to face Flex. "Don't call me that." she stated very softly. As quickly as she had come in she left.

Everyone turned to look at Flex. He shrugged and opened his eyes in amazement at the quick change in D.A. "How the hell was I to know she didn't like to be called that."

Kia chewed her lip thoughtfully. She wondered why D.A. had really snapped like that. "Hmm, that seemed a little shady even for the brat. . ."

C.K. lifted her arms up to Jordan. He picked her up and sat her on his lap. 

C.K. looked pointedly at her uncle. "I don't think D.A. likes you anymore."

Jordan smiled. "I don't think so either, but how 'bout I go find out. . ." He jumped down with C.K. and put her down in Kia's lap. 

Flex looked at Jordan's retreating form. "I wonder why she did that?? What do you think K?"

Kia smiled as she tickled C.K. Not looking up she mentioned, "I think you should let it rest, she'll come around soon enough."

Dionne heard the phone ring as soon as she was heading out the door. Damn it! She was on her way, though it would probably take her 20 minutes to get there on the bus. Mental note Hernandez, buy a car! She quickly ran back into the room and picked it up on the last ring. 

"What?" She answered breathlessly.

Dwayne held the phone with one hand and used his other hand to swerve through the streets of Miami. His brakes screeched as another car went through a red light as he was turning. "Fucking, asshole!"

Dionne pulled her ear away from the phone when she heard Dwayne curse. "Iwas just heading out the door. . ."

Dwayne turned onto Pender St.He parked right outside Dionne's house. "Alright, I'm outside, hurry up!"

Dionne breathed an annoyed sigh. "I didn't ask you to pick me up Ice. I could have just as easily taken the bus."

Dwayne smirked as he heard his nickname. She always used it when she was upset with him. "Yeah well, thought this would be faster, I was already at Tony's and I knew how long it took you to get to the house on the bus."

"Whatever, you could have at least asked if I even _wanted _a ride. I'm comin' out." Dionne grit her teeth. He was so frustrating. She hung up the phone, grabbed her sweater and headed outside. 

Dwayne narrowed his eyes at Dee's outfit. She was wearing loose black jeans and a dark purple full length sleeved top, with a high neck. She didn't look like she should be livin' in Miami. 

She stepped into the car and uttered a barely registered hello. She turned her head to the window. Then she noticed the car wasn't moving. 

She turned her head back to Dwayne. "Why ain't we movin'?" She could feel him studying her.

Dwayne wondered if she knew how attractive she could be if she didn't dress herself down and purposely fade into the background all the time."Are you cold??"

She frowned, what the hell was wrong with him? "No, why would you ask that?"

"'Cause you look like you are."

Dee looked down at herself, noticing the high neck sweater and dark jeans. Embarrassed, she blushed and turned away. "Yeah well. . . Can we just drive already??"

Looking at her once more, Dwayne noticed the blush and amazed that she could still manage to do it.Half to himself, he uttered something under his breath. "You're nothing like your sister."

Dionne turned her head quickly, not wanting to believe her ears. She always knew she wasn't pretty, it had always been the big family curse. She knew she wasn't a beauty like her sister had been, it was as if every time she tried to let that part of her life go, it always came back to haunt her. 

Softly she murmered her response. " I know, thank you for reminding me." Slowly she turned herself back to the window.

Dwayne narrowed his eyes at her answer. What the hell did she mean by that? He could feel her drawing herself back into her shell. The one she used so successfully to hide herself.Making his face blank and his voice toneless he told her that they had better start cruisin' or they'd be late.


	3. Making Up

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Letty sunk herself onto the cheap motel bed. They had been in Florida for all of 4 days, and already she was bored and frustrated. She sighed. Looking over at Mia who had managed to sleep late. Usually it was the other way around, but Letty could not sleep. She hadn't spoken to Dom since they left L.A. She avoided him any chance she got. Laying her head back on the pillow, she remembered their stupid fight, and then what happened afterward. 

**Flashback**

It had been two days since Brian had come back and the team had already decided it was time for them to leave. Brian had told them he had resigned and after what he did for Dom, no one questioned his sincerity. She had been suspicious at first, but she knew how much he loved Mia and he had even tried to save Vince. 

Vince, Letty had tried not to think about him gone. If there was anyone in the group she was really close to other than Dom it was Vince. He had always put on the tough guy act but she saw right through him. He was always her big baby. Vince had helped her through countless fights with Dom, and stopped her from breaking up with him just as many times. But Vince wasn't here now, and she needed him. 

She blinked back tears as her thoughts drifted back to Dom and their fight. God! He was such a fucking asshole, and dammit she was tired of taking him back every time. But this time, there was more to it. 

Last night, Dom had wanted to go to one last race to get some money for their impending trip. But Letty didn't think it was a good idea 'cause the cops were already on their asses. He flipped out and said, that she didn't fucking control him and if he wanted to go he would. She told him that the last time she listened to him, she ended up with two broken ribs and Vince died. Knowing she made a mistake in saying that by the furious look on his face, she tried to apologize, but he wouldn't listen. He shouted at the top of his lungs, calling her a bitch. Then Leon came downstairs and heard Dom. Knowing Dom was starting to go crazy , he tried to calm him down, which earned him a fist in the face. Mia ran downstairs hearing all the commotion and yelled at Dom while trying to help Leon. Letty had taken one look at Leon's face, and went fists flying for Dom. Dom held her back, trying to avoid her flying fists and legs, and then he used both his hands and violently pushed her away. Letty felt herself slam against the wall and slid down in shock. Dom looked in horror as he realized what he did. Mia got up from where she was with Leon to help Letty up and then she turned to Dom and slapped him, hard across the face. 

Dom had looked at everyone and walked out of the room slamming the door behind him, shaking the whole house. 

** End Flashback**

She sighed again. She remembered waiting for him to come home that night, and not seeing him she had went looking for him. She had gone to all their favorite places and still hadn't found him. While driving back home she saw Dom getting out of his car. She had stopped the car and was about to yell his name, when she saw a girl get out of the car with him. They had gotten out and walked into a house, a house the girl had a key for. Letty had frozen, usually she would have been out of the car in a second, but after what had happened she couldn't even remember what to do.Then she saw the girl take his hand and drag him into the house with her. 

Letty had spun her car around, her tires screeching in protest. She had been to numb to cry, to numb to do anything but drive. So she drove around for hours. She remembered the first time she had found out he had cheated on her. It wasn't so much that he had been with any girl, but it had been one of her enemies. Monica Tran. It had nearly torn her apart, but she had had Vince then, it hadn't been so hard. But she was alone now. She remembered her words when she found out. She had told him that it had better be the first and the last, or he would have to find someone else. Knowing she couldn't go back to the house, although she knew that Mia was probably freaking out at both Dom and her disappearances, she drove far out of LA. She had ended up crashing in some old motel, not knowing where the hell she was or what she was going to do when she go back. 

Letty shook her head, clearing her thoughts. God! That had been one of the worst nights of her life. But the worst was just beginning. She sighed, slowly she got out of the bed, not wanting to stay there any longer. Deciding she was going to take a shower grabbed a towel and wandered into the bathroom. 

Mia lifted her head from the pillow, hearing the bathroom door click shut. Looking around for her sweater and jeans, she quickly changed. She left the room and ventured over to Brian's adjoining room. Looking to see if Leon or Dom was in there and seeing that they weren't she jumped on Brian.

Brian felt something heavy on his back and grunted loudly. "Ugh!"

Mia laughed and bent her head to the side, lowering it to kiss him on the cheek and continued to move her lips down his neck. "Good Afternoon baby. . ."

Flipping himself over he grabbed Mia and moved so she was sitting on top of him. "What are you doing over here, woman??"

"Letty's in the shower and I was bored feigning sleep." She suddenly frowned. Remembering Letty and Dom's situation. 

"So have you talked to Dom yet, baby??"

Brian slowly stopped moving his hand up her thigh. An uneasiness coming over him as he remembered his conversation with Dom. "Uh, yeah. . ."

"What did he say??"

Brian sighed. "Nothing really. He just doesn't understand what's driven him and Letty so far apart."

Mia snorted. "I know exactly what, him being a pig that's what!" 

She rolled off him and moved to sit beside him against the headboard. " I still can't believe he pushed her like that, and then just leaving and not even coming back until the next day. How the fuck does he expect her not to be bad at him. Who knows where he was all night!"

Turning her head, she glanced at Brian. Seeing his ever-growing uneasiness, she began to suspect something. "Or is that it, where _did_ he go that night??"

Brian flipped the covers off the bed and grabbed some underclothes heading for the shower. "I think you should stay out of this one Mia, they always get back together after their fights no matter how long they are." But even Brian was skeptical about this one. Dom had told him he had only ever cheated on Letty once before, and Letty had told him if it happened again, they were over. Somehow, Brian thought Letty already knew Dom hadn't been faithful. She was being totally un-Letty around Dom and refused to even look at him. Dom was killing himself with guilt and had tried several times to talk to her, but Letty always brushed him off.

Mia narrowed her eyes at her boyfriends evasiveness. She knew he knew _something_ but could see he wasn't going totell her anything else. Anyways, maybe he was right. Maybe she should stay out of this one. But she wondered if this was going to be the thing that would break up Letty and her brother. She remembered when they had first gotten together. Letty had been sixteen and Dom had been twenty-two. They had been the most volatile couple she had ever seen, but they had also been the most passionate and had always been inseparable too. She knew that if they broke up, it would destruct the foundation of their team. 

Looking up she saw Brian heading for the bathroom. Stripping her clothes of quickly behind him, she whistled softly catching his attention. "Need company??"

Brian grinned. "There's always room for one more!"

Dom got out of his car and headed for the hotel. He had gone out in the morning for breakfast, but it was almost time to bounce over to Dwayne's crib. He was still a little weird about seeing Dwayne again. It had been so long ago when they had been kids. Running quickly up the steps to their room, he smiled as he remembered the time Dwayne and him had the bet to see who would date the most popular girl in school. He laughed as he remembered Dwayne's words when eh found out Dom had won, "She just couldn't handle the dark chocolate love!"Dom had never let him live it down. 

Dom hesitated before knocking on Mia and Letty's room door. He knew Mia was probably with Brian but he needed to talk to Letty. It was a talk that was long overdue. Yet, he knew that if he told her, he just might lose her. But almost anything would be better than, this growing space between them. Knocking sharply on the door he waited. 

Letty stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around herself loosely lightly jogging to the room door, as she heard the knocking. Thinking it was Mia she opened it without looking to see who it was and began to walk back to the bathroom. 

Dom stepped into the room closing the door behind him. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. If this had been any other occasion, nothing could have stopped him from going over to her and removing the towel from her body. Dom could feel himself beginning to respond and shifted uncomfortably. 

As soon as she heard the door close, the hairs stood up on her neck. She knew that it was Dom who stepped into the room and not Mia. Turning around she looked at him stonily. Not betraying anything in her expression. But she knew it wouldn't do anything, he could always read her, like no one else could. 

Dom saw the unwariness in her face. An emotion that he knew was almost alien to Letty.

"What do you want??"

Dom folded his arms across his chest."We need to talk"

Letty rolled her eyes. "About what Dom?? What is there that we really need to talk about?"

"What's wrong with you, why the silent treatment??"

Letty snorted. Putting her hands on her hip in disbelief. "Don't fuck with me Dom, you know I'm anything but naive!"

Dom moved closer, seeing some of the real Letty return. "I'm not fucking with you, you know I'm sorry about hurting you, I've already tried to apologize."

Letty was furious, it was as if he'd forgotten what he'd done. Shouting now she decided to lay all the cards on the table. "FUCK, you must be the biggest asshole I know, I'm not fucking talking about pushing me, I'M TALKING ABOUT YOU FUCKING THAT SKANK!!"

Dom immediately thought Brian had told her. But he could finally understand the silence and her avoidance. He walked up to her and grabbed her arms. 

"Baby, I'm sorry, I was upset about what happened I couldn't deal with what I did to you."

Letty violently jerked herself back. "DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH ME!! " She stepped back, her body slightly shaking with rage. 

"I followed you that night, thinking I would calm you down, and tell you I wasn't mad, and then I saw you walk into her house. I SAW HER FUCKING PULLING YOU INTO THE HOUSE, AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN HESITATE FOR A SECOND!!"

Not even thinking about what she was doing she lifted her arms and punched him in the face. She didn't stop to register what she was doing she just kept punching him, in the ribs, on his arms. She tried to make him hurt just as much as she was hurting. 

"I WON'T TAKE YOU BACK THIS TIME DOM, I MEAN IT. IT'S OVER I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Her arms were grasped tightly in one of his hands, as she heard him fight for breath.

Dom sucked in air, holding her wrists down and together with difficulty while she struggled. He could feel the beginnings of bruises all over his body. He tasted blood on his lower lip. "DAMMIT LETTY, I'm sorry, I can't take it back, but I would, you know that!" He could feel her slowly begin to shake. Knowing she was crying, his voice got softer. His heart broke as he heard her soft cries. Her tough girl act was gone, and instead he saw the little girl he used to take care of, the one who always wanted to please everyone, but thought that she was never enough. 

Letty couldn't control herself anymore. It was as if all the hurt over the years with him and all the fights, were releasing themselves. Not once had she cried, not even when she had found out he cheated the first time. She hadn't cried since she was 16, when she found out her father died. She had vowed she'd never let anything or anyone else hurt her. Slowly she sank to the floor in Dom's arms. 

"It hurts so much. . ."

Dom cradled her in his arms. He turned her tear-streaked face towards his, a tightening in his heart as he realized what he was doing to her. "I'm so sorry, God! I love you Letty, I love you so much..."

Letty lifted her head towards his, knowing she shouldn't, but she wanted . . . needed comfort. She needed him. 

Dom could see what she was asking for with her eyes and grasped her face in his hands. He lowered his mouth onto hers and took her lips. Slowly and gently he opened her mouth, giving it access to his tongue.Gently while having his mouth still on hers he, picked her up and carried her to the bed. Laying her down gently

he preceded to remove her clothes.

Letty helped Dom rid her of the barriers between them and started to lift his shirt over his head. Their lovemaking had always been fast and frantic, but this time it was slow and sweet. And for the first time Letty felt cherished. 

When all the barriers were dispensed with, Dom began his slow journey down her body with his lips and tongue. Gently sucking on her neck, his hands wandered down her stomach, lightly caressing everything he touched. His hands reached her core and he felt her offer herself to him. His lips contiued his quest downwards.

Gently circling her aureole with his tongue he began to suck lightly on her nipple, nipping slightly. He lifted his head to move on to the next breast and felt her hands on his head pushing him to continue his onslaught of her senses. 

Letty pushed Dom's head down toward her other breast, while opening her legs to welcome the warmth of his hand. She began to buck at his wild fingers and she began to twist and turn as his hands moved underneath her buttocks as his mouth took the place of his hands. She began to knead his bald head, urging him to keep going.

Dom could feel her clenching and knew she was about to come. Sliding up her body he kissed her lips, and slipped gently inside her. It was a perfect fit, he knew they were made for one another. Kissing her gently, he began to move slowly but with sure strokes. He could feel her getting impatient, but he wanted to please her, he wanted her to know she was special. 

Wrapping her legs around him, Letty moved with him. She had never felt more like she belonged with him. She could feel herself reaching her peak and began to speed up the rhythm. Grabbing behind his head she kissed him. As they moved faster and faster she felt something build up inside her, until she felt like she was going to burst.Suddenly, she felt herself falling over that edge and cried out in pleasure. 

Dom jerked his head up as he heard her say the three little words he had longed to hear. Crying out he spilt his seed inside her. 

Letty felt his heavy but familiar weight on top of her. She loosely wrapped her arms around him. She had finally brought herself to say them. She had said the words she had felt ever since she was 8 years old. She had always known if she'd said it , he'd own her completely. And now he owned her heart to its full capacity.

Dom looked at her all his love for her shining in his eyes. His eyes began to tear, as he thought of losing her. "God! I'm so fucking sorry Let, I'm so sorry."

Letty covered his mouth with her finger; the pain was still too raw. She felt him bury his head in her shoulder, and she felt his shoulders shake gently. She lifted her arms and cradled his head, though she knew he was sorry. She took some comfort to know he was hurting just as much as she was.


	4. Dinner Introductions

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kia leaned over her bathroom sink, panting for breath. She had been putting on the finishing touches to her make-up when a great pain had grabbed her stomach. She winced and gripped the sink as another one hit. Closing her eyes, she began to breathe normally. Turning around to lean her hip against the sink, she began to slowly massage her stomach. She had begun to get these lancing pains a month ago, but she had thought they were nothing. But now they were getting worse, a day didn't go by when she didn't get one. At first she had thought it was appendicitis, but she had had her appendix removed when she was 13.She was starting to get increasingly worried, but she hadn't wanted to alarm anyone, so she hadn't said anything and they hadn't noticed. Slowly she moved from the sink, stopping once, as she felt lightheaded. Heading downstairs, as she heard voices, she decided she'd visit the doctor tomorrow. Maybe she'd ask Dionne to come with her. 

  


D.A. stayed in her room, ignoring Jordan and C.K.'s knocks. Fuck! She knew she shouldn't have gotten like that when Flex had said her first name, but it just brought back bad memories. Memories, she'd rather just forget, but now they were probably all going to ask her questions and shit. Whatever, she'd just not answer them, she didn't owe them a damn thing! She lifted her head as she heard voices outside. Oh great, the Brady bunch people were here! She rolled off the bed and peeked out her window. 

Raising an eyebrow, she could see she was wrong in her labeling. They looked like the skater bunch! Laughing silently, she scanned the group. There were about 6 people she could see. There were four guys and only two girls. She figured they must be tag alongs, or hoes or something though. Dismissing them she looked through the guys, her eyes stopping on the bald headed one. Wow!! This one looked good enough to eat, and that was only from far away. Deciding, she was going to join then after all, she dressed in a tight low cut tank top and tight jeans.

  


Dionne sat in the kitchen, mixing the salad. Ever since her "disagreement" with Dwayne, she had been in a depressed mood. She hated being reminded of her faults. She groaned as she thought of staying here the whole night, when all she wanted to do was go to bed. She had to be at work for 8 tomorrow. Grabbing the plates from the cupboard she jumped when she felt hands on her shoulders. 

"Glad you came Dee!"

Turning around quickly, and almost dropping the salad bowl, she put a hand to her chest as she realized that it was only Jordan. "Dammit, you know I hate that shit!" Pushing him slightly in the chest, she turned back to her task of getting the plates. 

Jordan smiled and clutched his chest in mock pain. Jumping up on the counter, he tipped his head to look at his best friend closely. "What's wrong??"

She frowned. "What are you talking about JJ??"

Folding his hands across his chest, he leaned back against the cupboard. "I know you to well, Dee. What's wrong??"

She rolled her eyes. She admitted that she could talk to Jordan about anything, well anything but Dwayne. She finished setting the table and turned to wipe her hands on a cloth. Without looking at Jordan, she sought an answer to the question that had been plaguing her all day. "Am I like Karyn, JJ??"

Jordan snorted in disgust. "Fuck no, Dee. Your sister was a self-centered bitch, who used your low self-esteem to make herself feel better." Jumping off the counter he stood behind her, and wrapped his arms around her waist. "You should be happy. You are definitely nothing like your sister."

Dee smiled and turned out of his embrace giving him a large bear hug. He always tried to make her feel better about herself. When she was with him, she didn't have to worry about him judging her. "Thanks, Jordan."

Pulling away Jordan smacked her ass as she walked away, laughing when she yelped. Hearing a car door slam. He turned to the window and peeked through the curtain. "Well, looks like company's arrived, Dee."

Jordan smiled as he heard Dee groan. He knew she hated being in places with lots of people. Knowing her she would probably disappear, for the whole night. 

"Ok, put on your happy face Dee, almost time to mingle!"

Dwayne stood outside of the house, waiting as saw Letty and Dom hop out of their cars, followed by Mia and three other guys. Walking down his front steps he moved towards Letty. 

"Wassup, ya'll??"

Letty smiled as she saw the familiar face. "Nothin' babe, good to see you. So where's the party at??" She said, as she leaned forward and lightly squeezed Dwayne's stomach.He looked over her shoulder at the slightly open door. 

Dwayne smiled and turned to Dom and greeted him. "Sup, dog?"

Dom grinned. He had been feeling better ever since Letty and him had managed to get on speaking terms. Well, a little more than speaking terms, though things were far from fixed between them. "Nothin', just chillin'. Trying to get a feel for the east coast."

Dwayne nodded and moved slightly past him to kiss Mia lightly on the cheek. "How are you Mia??"

Mia smiled as she grabbed Brian's hand and returned the light kiss. "Same here, I guess I should introduce everyone since no one else is??" She turned to Brian. "This is my boy, Brian. Brian this is an old friend Dwayne."

Dwayne shook hands in greeting and dismissed him after sizing him up. "Call me Ice." Though he knew that Dom must knew these guys pretty well for them to be traveling with them. Dwayne didn't and he didn't let anyone he didn't know use his first name. It was how it worked in Florida. 

Brian nodded, noting Dwayne's subtle hint, that he wasn't welcome to use his first name. 

Mia pointed out Leon and Jesse. "These are our friends Leon and Jesse, we met them a little while after you left L.A." 

Dwayne greeted them and decided the Dom's crew didn't seem all that bad. Blinding them all with smile, he headed back into the house. "A'ight, ya'll I'm guessin' ya'll are hungry!!"

Everyone nodded and Letty let out a cat's meow in response. 

Mia squeezed Brian's hand in response to Letty and Dom's seemingly better attitude towards each other. "Looks like things are getting back to normal?"

Brian nodded absently. Things got back to normal a little too quickly if you asked him, but he nodded to comfort Mia. Only time could tell with those two.

  


C.K. waited in the kitchen with her auntie Dionne. She had wanted to go outside with her daddy but Auntie Kia had said to wait. She huffed to herself. D.A. hadn't let her put on her bootie shorts and instead she had to wear Capri's. Well at least D.A. had let her wear her cheetah print halter-top. Auntie Kia had done her hair earlier, and she had braided it just like 'Licia Keys. She smiled and ran towards her daddy's voice as she heard him come in the house. She hoped that they one of the parties where she got to dance, 'cause she felt like showing off tonight. 

Dwayne opened his arms when he saw his little girl running towards him. Rolling his eyes slightly at what she was wearing. She always had to wear something revealing. "Hey stinky, did you dress yourself tonight??"

Letty smiled at the little girl, having remembering seeing her in the store. "Had to go make a kid that looked just like you huh??"

Dwayne laughed. "No other way, Letty!" He turned to everyone. "This is my daughter Carla Kashay, but everyone calls her C.K."

C.K. glared at her father. "Daddy, you know I don't like that name!" She turned to everyone, not feeling an inkling of shyness. "I don't like C.K. I like Carla, so you can call me that."

Everyone laughed and Mia reached out and touched her hair. "Nice hair, who did it for you??" 

But C.K. had stopped paying attention to everyone and was keenly focused on Dom. He was so cute. She pointed directly at him. "Are you my daddy's friend too??"

Dom smiled, a little taken aback by the little girls forwardness. "Yeah, I know your daddy from along time ago."

C.K. nodded and continued staring before she turned back to Mia and answered her. "My Auntie Kia did my hair for me." She turned back to Dom. "Do you like it??"

Letty smirked. Looked like Dom was popular with all the girls. "Looks like you got another admirer Dom."

Leon had stood back quietly when meeting Ice. He had decided even though Ice had seemed a little cold, he was all right. He smiled at C.K. and shook his head. "Letty, seems like you've got some competition."

Everyone laughed again. C.K. didn't care what everyone was laughing about, already deciding Dom was going to be her new boy toy. She opened her arms to him, indicating she wanted him to take her from Dwayne. 

Dwayne raised his eyebrow at this, knowing that his daughter didn't really like everyone. 

Dom winked at C.K. as he received her from Dom's arms. "Yeah I like your hair, you look very pretty." He laughed as C.K. buried her face in his neck. 

Jordan leaned over the back of his chair, as he straddled it. "Is Flex comin' Kia??" He shook his head at the irony of him having to ask Flex's girlfriend where his own cousin was. 

Kia nodded. "He said he'd be late, he had to pick up his car from Marcelle's. He said black smoke was comin' out of the exhaust."

Jordan nodded. "Tell us about the crew comin' here tonight."

Dionne, Kia, and Jordan sat in the kitchen talking. "So how long have you known them Kia??"

Kia sat opposite Dionne. She shrugged. "Well they lived down the street from us. But we became friends when I was four, Letty and Mia were five, Dom was um...12 and Dwayne was 13." She sighed and laid her head down on the table. "We were the best of friends until ma decided to move out here, to live with grandma." 

Dionne smiled at the thought of Dwayne as a 13 year old. "You never called them or anything??" 

"Nah, ma didn't have the money and by the time we could, years had gone by. I wish we had though we were like family. Dom and Dwayne were always pulling tricks on us and Mia was always yelling at Dom for something. But Let and Dwayne were the closest out of all of us."

Dionne continued smiling though she felt that tightening in her stomach again. She berated herself, for feeling the least bit jealous. It wasn't as if she was even _close _to Dwayne that way. If anything they weren't event really good friends. 

Kia continued talking, lost in the past. " . . . Although Let always followed Dom around." She laughed aloud. "We used to tease her so much about that, but anyways Dwayne had always been the one to protect her, and Dom had ignored her." 

Dionne tried unsuccessfully to get thoughts of Dwayne out of her head. She tried to change the subject but was beaten to it by Jordan. 

"What about Mia??" Jordan was curious about this new crew. It was kinda weird, that other people had known Dwayne and Kia before they had. 

Kia lifted her head as she heard people's voices heading their way. " Mia and I were always the romance queens, Let was the tough girl so she didn't really join in on our "playing house" games." She turned her attention towards the kitchen door as Dwayne walked in with Letty, Dom, Mia and three other guys behind him. 

Dionne froze momentarily at the sight of Dwayne but quickly hid her feelings. Immediately, she was looking for a way to excuse herself after saying hi. Maybe she'd go hang out with D.A. She didn't think D.A. would come downstairs, well hopefully she wouldn't. 

Jordan looked up and had a smirk on his face when he saw C.K. in a bug guy's arm, who was built like Dwayne. The corner of his eye caught Dee's expression and could already see the wheels turning in her head. He sighed; he knew she already wanted to leave. Putting an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her towards him. "Stop It." He whispered.

Dee turned an innocent face to his. But knowing already he had noticed her trying to plan her escape. She grimaced; it was a little disconcerting how well he knew her. "Sorry."

Dwayne narrowed his cold eyes at Jordan and Dionne. He noted her uncomfortable ness.He turned towards the guests, nodding towards Dom, Mia and Letty. 

"You guys know Kia and you've met Dionne." He turned towards the rest of them. "Leon, Jesse, Brian this is my sister Kia . . ." Pointing towards Kia. " . . . And this is a friend and C.K.'s aunt Dionne and this is my boy's cousin, Jordan."

Kia waved brightly and smiled at everyone, while Dee waved shyly beside Jordan. 

Jordan moved his arm from Dee's shoulder. "Wassup?"

Letty lifted her eyebrow. Damn! That's two fine guys in one week. Maybe Florida isn't so bad. 

D.A. ran down the stairs and bounded into the kitchen. "I guess, you forgot 'bout me Ice." She said dryly. Eyeing everyone warily, her eyes landed on Dom and she did a double take. Wow! He was even fucking, hotter in person!! 

Dwayne rolled his eyes, D.A. always had to make an entrance whenever she decided to grace anyone with her presence. He didn't bother turning around. He threw his head back in her direction and folded his hands over his chest. " You said you weren't coming. This is my cousin D.A. ya'll."

Letty's eyebrow inched higher in warning to D.A.'s appraisal of Dom. This bitch looked like would have to be watched. "How ya livin' girl??"

D.A. absently nodded at everyone, her eyes not leaving Dom. When she heard Letty's voice, she pulled her eyes away and stared at Letty. Well, this one looked like a bad bitch. But D.A. didn't think anyone was worse than her. Actually, looking at the girls again, neither of them looked like hoes. Maybe she'd been mistaken about them. "You're Letty right?"

Letty's face didn't shift an inch. "That's right."

D.A.'s blatant staring at Dom hadn't gone unnoticed by anyone else in the room, either. Dionne chewed her bottom lip. She hoped D.A. didn't cause any trouble tonight. She groaned inwardly, she guessed that she wouldn't be able to escape tonight at all. 

Jordan narrowed his eyes on D.A. Fuck! He could tell she had wanted to stir up trouble, judging at least by the outfit. His jaw clenched. 

Kia looked around and decided to take charge. "Ok, we'd better stop talkin' and start eatin' , 'cause I don't know 'bout ya'll but I hate eating cold food!" She moved toward the door. She hoped Flex would get here soon. 

Everyone looked away from the staredown and followed Kia out to the back porch where all the food was. 

Leon's eyes lingered on Dionne. Damn!! She was fine! With all the drama already starting, he could tell it was going to be an interesting night.


	5. The Fight

Chapter 4  
  
Dionne sat beside Kia outside at the table. So far everything was going okay at this little "get together" they were having. She glanced around the table, noting the happy couples: Flex and Kia, Mia and Brian and seemingly Dom and Letty. Her heart fluttered, as she realized that Letty had no intentions on Dwayne, even though if she did there was nothing she could do about it anyways. She looked back down at her food. It had been so hard not to eat everything on the table. But she knew she'd pay for it later so all she'd had was some salad and a small piece of apple pie.  
  
Leon tried to stop looking at Dee but couldn't take his eyes off of her. She was beautiful, and it didn't even seem like she knew it! Leaning back in his chair, he turned his head toward Jesse, whispering slightly.  
  
"So, what do you think about that one??" Nudging his head in Dee's direction.  
  
Jesse stopped eating momentarily to consider Leon's question. "She's pretty dope Leon, why you try talkin' to her or something??"  
  
"Yah maybe, we'll see . . .." But Leon had already made up his mind.  
  
Dom eyed Letty as she talked to Dwayne. Her face was glowing and he hadn't seen her laugh so hard in a long time. His arm was draped around her shoulders, while his hand ran up and down her arm. He hadn't held her like this in so long either. He sighed, so much had happened in such a short space of time. Vince died, Letty almost suffered the same fate, Brian came back, he cheated on Letty and they broke up, now they're back together. It all seemed to happen too fast. He glanced up as he heard someone call his name.  
  
D.A. watched as Dom and Letty sat close together. Fuck! Why did all the good guys get taken?? She rolled her eyes at the two. This dinner was boring; she hadn't even been that hungry, and now she was restless. Lifting an eyebrow, she caught Jordan looking at her again. What was with him anyways?? Ever since . . . She shook her head, nah she didn't want to think about that. Turning her head back towards Dom, she sat up in her chair. Maybe she would stir up some excitement at this table.  
  
"So... Dom who do you like Florida so far??"  
  
Dom turned his head toward the voice that said his name. Oh yeah, this was Dwayne's cousin right? She couldn't be more than 16 maybe 17 at the most. "It's a'ight, people are different here than over in the west coast, a bit nicer here too."  
  
D.A. nodded. "So um . . . did you leave any girlfriends back in L.A.??" Knowing the response she'd get from the table, she almost grinned.  
  
Dionne groaned inwardly, she had specifically told D.A. to not be a smart- ass tonight. Looking over at Dom, she knew that this wouldn't go over well with him.  
  
Letty lifted her eyebrow, clenching her jaw. This bitch was tryna act all disrespectful and shit, actin' like she couldn't see Dom with his arm around her! She sat up in the chair casually. "What you don't see me sitting right here??"  
  
Dwayne's eyes turned cold again, reminding everyone at the table why they called him Ice. D.A. could be such a brat sometimes, he knew she didn't really mean anything and just liked to stir shit up but he also knew that Letty wasn't the average chick that D.A. screwed around with. Getting out of his chair slowly he grabbed his beer and faced the table. "Enough!" His quiet voice stained with finality.  
  
Dionne took Ice's lead and stood up. " I think it's about time we went inside, I'll clear the plates." Biting her lip, she looked over at D.A., who had a smirk on her face; and then over at Letty, who looked ready to do some damage. Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! Damn! She knew she shouldn't have agreed to come.  
  
Carla had been watching in silence. She usually wouldn't have been, except after she ate she always got sleepy. Lifting her arms she raised them to her Auntie Kia.  
  
Kia lifted Carla in her arms. Looking down at the 5 year-old, Kia could tell she was sleepy. She turned to the person beside her. "Flex baby, you wanna take C.K. to bed for me, I wanna help Dee clear the dishes."  
  
Flex took C.K. from her arms and casually handed her over to Dee. "Uh uh, the last time I tried to put her to bed I was up there for 2 hours. Let Dee do it, I'll help you clear the dishes."  
  
"Yo, Dee we'll clear the table, can you take C.K. up to B-E-D??  
  
Dee lifted Carla up and clasped her to her chest. "Yeah sure."  
  
Everyone began to leave the table, leaving Kia and Flex to clear it.  
  
D.A. passed Kia on her way inside, and felt her grab her arm. She turned towards Kia.  
  
"Hey D.A., try not to make too much of a fool of yourself tonight ok. I don't think Dwayne's in the mood."  
  
D.A. twisted her arm out of Kia's hand. "So what if he's in the mood, he can't do anything to me anyways."  
  
Knowing D.A. was full of shit with her bravery act, Kia just nodded but gave her a warning look. "Just don't say I didn't tell you so."  
  
D.A. rolled her eyes and continued on her way into the house.  
  
  
  
Dom sat opposite Dwayne in the kitchen. He lifted his beer to his mouth and leaned back in the chair. "Who made the grub?? It was pretty good."  
  
The corner of Dwayne's mouth lifted slightly. " Dionne made it, she'd a pretty good cook."  
  
"So what, are you and her . . . . .?"  
  
Dwayne shook his head. "Hell nah, she's the my baby's aunt, that's it."  
  
Dom eyed Dwayne quietly. "So where's C.K.'s mom??"  
  
Dwayne's eyes glazed over slightly with anger, before they turned remote and the familiar cold gaze was back in his eyes. "She's dead. She died when Carla was 2 months old. ." His voice held a quiet but noticeable conclusiveness.  
  
Dom immediately wished he had gone with his first instinct and not asked. He was about to apologize, but Dwayne cut him off.  
  
"So when did you and Ari . . . I mean Letty happen?"  
  
Dom smiled at the use of the old nickname. He took another drink of his beer. "Well, actually it happened when she turned 16. She was helping me fix up some cars, like usual but I glanced up and I really really looked at her." Dom laughed as he remembered how shocked he'd been. "It was like she'd grown up right then. All of a sudden she'd gotten tits and an ass and I was like whoa!"  
  
Dwayne laughed; he could actually picture Dom's face. "Yeah that does happen sometimes . . .!"  
  
"Then she was my girl, just like that. We've been together ever since." He frowned as remembered recent events that could have changed all that.  
  
Dwayne leaned back casually in his chair, draping his arm over the back. "You two must drive each other crazy. She still get crazy jealous??"  
  
Dom laughed out loud. "Oh yeah, everyone in L.A. was scared of her, nobody fucked with us. You remember that time you started babysitting that Trina girl??  
  
Dwayne smirked. Trina had been one of Mia's little play friends when she was five. "Oh yeah, that was crazy funny. I remember, Letty tried to beat her up; thought I was giving Trina too much attention and not enough to her."  
  
"Shit! I knew she'd carry that attitude for the rest of her life."  
  
Dom nodded in agreement, still grinning. "Yeah . . ." He turned his head toward the living room as he heard shouting, that sounded unmistakably like Letty. "Oh shit! What's that noise??" He locked knowing looks with Dwayne. It wasn't . . . Oh shit!  
  
Dom jumped out of his chair slamming his beer on the table; followed closely by Dwayne.  
  
"Can't leave D.A. alone for a second." Dwayne muttered under his breath.  
  
  
  
Dionne sat on the edge of the bed while Carla lay under the sheets, her eyes fighting sleep. Dee rolled her eyes at Carla's usual effort to stay awake.  
  
"C'mon Carla stop fighting your sleep . . ."  
  
Carla yawned. She really was tired, maybe tonight she would go to bed without having Auntie Dee read 3 more stories. "Auntie Dee, can I ask you somefin'??"  
  
Dee nodded as she rubbed Carla's back. "What's that?"  
  
Carla's eyes drifted slowly closed. "Since my mommy's not coming back, can I call you mommy . . ." Her breath evened out as she fell asleep.  
  
Dionne stopped the constant rubbing motion on Carla's back, shocked. Where did that come from?? She had no idea what to say. Looking over at Carla's face, she realized she was saved tonight as Carla lay sleeping. What was she going to tell Dwayne?  
  
She turned her head towards the door as she heard yelling downstairs. What the hell was all that noise? Didn't they know Carla was trying to sleep??  
  
  
  
D.A. sat on the chair behind Jordan and Letty, who were playing Playstation 2's Midnight Run. Kia and Flex had gone upstairs and Dionne was putting C.K. to bed. The other two guys were sitting talking while Mia and Brian were in the den. Looking at Letty, she guessed she wasn't that bad looking; maybe a little rough around the edges, but it gave her the "don't fuck with me" look. She watched as Letty and Jordan played together, laughing and covering each other's eyes so the other could cheat. Fuck! She didn't have to sit here and watch them flirt; Letty already had a man. Or did she??  
  
"So I guess if you're planning to fuck Jordan then I can borrow Dom for the night!"  
  
Letty's ears perked up. She sat still as rage boiled in her veins and traveled up to her head. Who the fuck did this little girl think she was? Pausing the game she used her hands to push herself off from the ground.  
  
Moving to stand in front of D.A. she used her finger to emphasize what she was saying. "Listen you little bitch, you don't know who you're fucking around with so back off!"  
  
Leon and Jesse stood up as they saw Letty getting into her fighting stance. Uh Oh!  
  
D.A. could feel her adrenaline pumping. Dammit! If she knew she was going to fight tonight, she would have worn her black shirt instead of her white one. She hated getting blood on her clothes, it never came out.  
  
"Why should I? I'm not afraid of you, you skank. I know girls like you, guys only keep you around 'cause you can give good head, while they go fucking other girls at the same time!"  
  
Letty fumed at the reminder of Dom and other girls. That's It! Letty pulled her arm back and punched D.A. viciously in the face. "HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS BITCH?"  
  
D.A.'s head snapped back with the force of the punch. Damn! Did the girl box or something?? She could feel her lip swell up immediately. The bitch had busted her lip!  
  
D.A. screamed. "YOU STUPID HO!" She pushed Letty hard and then with all the power she had she gave her a right hook to the eye.  
  
Letty was a bit surprised the girl could fight but that didn't stop her. She let out a loud roar and jumped on her, pounding her in the stomach. Letty felt a knee to her gut that knocked the wind out of her.  
  
D.A. could feel a rib crack. Damn! That was gonna hurt later. She was about to grab Letty's hair, when she felt herself being pulled back by someone. She fought them off violently.  
  
Mia and Brian were watching TV when the heard the commotion upstairs.  
  
Mia looked at Brian. "Do you hear yelling??"  
  
Brian nodded. "Sounds like Let, think maybe her and that D.A. chick are scrapping it out??"  
  
Mia's eyes widened and then returned to normal. She got up from her seat on Brian's lap and began to walk toward the stairs. "It wouldn't be too unlikely. Let's go see!"  
  
Brian sighed as he followed Mia upstairs.  
  
  
  
Dwayne and Dom came running in form the kitchen followed by Mia and Brian from the den and Dionne stood at the bottom of the stairs.  
  
Dom immediately went for Letty, grabbing her around the stomach. He tried to pull her away but her arms and feet were everywhere. Holding her stomach and kicked her off the ground.  
  
"Letty calm down! "  
  
Jordan grabbed D.A. under her arm, imprisoning her back against his chest. He held her tightly as she struggled.  
  
"YOU STUPID BITCH, YOU'RE LUCKY HE PULLED ME OFF WHEN HE DID!"  
  
Dwayne stepped in-between the two girls. "THAT'S IT! ENOUGH!"  
  
D.A. had calmed down but was now struggling again at Letty's comment. She diverted her eyes from Letty over to her cousin. Oh shit! She was definitely gonna get it. She pointed towards Letty.  
  
"She started it!"  
  
Mia, Brian, Leon, Jesse and Dee all turned to look at Letty.  
  
Dwayne turned to her and narrowed his eyes. "SHUT-UP!" His eyes telling her, he'd deal with her better later.  
  
Jordan realizing how pissed Dwayne was, knew he'd better get D.A. away until he calmed down. "C'mon D.A. let's go . . ." He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, only feeling her struggle for a moment. He winced as he heard D.A.'s very very large vocabulary.  
  
Dom had managed to calm Letty down to a small degree, she wasn't yelling anymore and he managed to put her on the ground. He exhaled thankfully as D.A. was carried away. Damn! He couldn't take Letty anywhere!  
  
Letty moved out of Dom's grasp around her waist and folded her arms across her chest. "You need to teach your cousin some fucking manners Dwayne!" She could feel her eye stinging. She was gonna have a nice shiner tomorrow!!  
  
Dwayne turned to Letty and copied her stance. "Don't play the innocent with me! I'm pretty sure you're the one that started the fight." He continued as Letty opened her mouth again. " But not without some provocation from my baby cousin."  
  
Letty just rolled her eyes. "Whatever!" She turned to Dom. "Let's go, all of a sudden I'm kinda tired." 


	6. The Aftermath

Chapter 5  
  
D.A. lounged on the couch watching TV. She sighed. Fuck! Why did everything have to be her fault?? She touched her bandaged ribs lightly and winced as the movement caused her a slight pain. Damn! Slowly she edged herself off the couch, heading into the kitchen, wincing along the way.  
  
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" she mumbled under her breath. "Who the hell knew she could hit so hard!"  
  
Jordan casually leaned himself against the wall, in front of D.A. He smirked watching her wince as she walked towards him. He almost felt sorry for her, but she had been looking for it. She had goaded Letty into that fight. It was weird; he thought wryly, those two were so much alike it's too bad they got off on the wrong foot.  
  
He smiled as D.A. finally looked up and saw him.  
  
D.A. rolled her eyes when she saw Jordan. God! He was everywhere, as if she didn't have enough to remind her of what she did. Actually, she felt a little guilty for provoking Letty, if not only for her bruised ribs.  
  
"How are your ribs??"  
  
She pushed past him into the kitchen. "How the hell do you think they are JJ?"  
  
Jordan followed her, straddling over one of the stools at the counter. "I think they hurt like a bitch, and I kinda think you deserve it."  
  
D.A. slammed the fridge door shut. He never liked to mince words huh! "Fuck You!"  
  
Jordan smiled and leaned forward on the counter. "You know for someone who's only 16 you got a pretty big vocabulary..."  
  
"Don't you know when you're not wanted, it's not as if I don't already feel bad, you asshole. I've got enough people around here glaring at me all day and Ice already chewed me out."  
  
Jordan winced. Ouch! He knew how bad Ice could get especially when he was mad. "Ouch! Was it bad??"  
  
D.A. shrugged as she began to make herself a ham sandwich. "Yeah, but it was his normal ice-cold thing. Ya know when he just stares at you for awhile and than threatens you, in that calm ass voice."  
  
Jordan nodded. He knew those! He had gotten one the first time he came to live with them, and he hadn't even done anything wrong! He watched her silently, while she made her sandwich.  
  
"Hey make me one too." Jordan said as he jumped off the stool onto the ground. He walked around the kitchen counter and headed for the fridge.  
  
"Make it yourself, I'm the injured one." She finished making her sandwich and headed to the fridge to put the mayonnaise away.  
  
Jordan stepped back as she slightly edged him aside. "Pretty please" he added in a playful voice.  
  
D.A. almost smiled. She glanced up over the top of the fridge door at him. "Um......let me think about it? NO!" She smiled when she saw the mock hurt on his face. Brushing past him she closed the fridge door and headed upstairs to her room.  
  
Jordan grinned after D.A. He had known she'd say no. Dammit! He still hadn't talked to her about what happened. Fuck! She always sidetracked him. He'd just talk to her upstairs when he was done his sandwich  
  
  
  
Dionne grabbed her stuff from her work locker and headed outside. She had just finished work and she was so tired, and then on top of that she had to go for a run. She had eaten half a bag of Doritos yesterday! Walking to the exit she waved goodbye to her colleagues.  
  
"Later Emma!"  
  
"Bye babe!"  
  
Dionne walked outside, fumbling with her bags. She had to go to help out at the store today and she had brought her lunch and a change of clothes, so she could run home in. She continued walking to the bus stop, when she tripped over a small bump in the sidewalk causing her stuff to fly 30 feet in front of her, and she fell almost flat on her face.  
  
Groaning at her own stupidity for not seeing it there, she slowly got up from the ground wiping her hands on her pants. Dammit! She looked around as she saw a few people stop and laugh, she grimaced, was there anything more mortifying?  
  
"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" She cursed under her breath. She hung out with D.A. way too much! She walked over to her bags and tried to pick them all up.  
  
Flex jumped out of his car, having been on his way to pick Dee up, he had seen her take a flying fall.  
  
"Dee! Dee!"  
  
Dee heard someone call her name faintly, she had been thinking about her continuous stupidity. Spinning around she noticed Flex jogging towards her. She breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Yo Dee you a'ight??" Flex took the bags from her hand and motioned for her to follow him to his parked Navigator.  
  
She nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay!"  
  
Flex put the bags in the back seat and opened the front door for Dee. "You sure??"  
  
Dee nodded again, although she could see her knees and her elbows bleeding. She moved in her seat, trying not get the blood on the plush leather seats.  
  
Flex looked over at her and saw her cheeks brighten. He decided to change the topic to save her from any more embarrassment. " Kia told me you were going by the store, so I thought I'd come and pick you up."  
  
"Oh thanks, you didn't have to though. I'm fine taking the bus."  
  
Flex frowned. Damn! She was stubborn. He knew they had all asked a million times why she didn't just live with them or let them at least buy her a car. But she always, said no. It wasn't as if Ice didn't have the money.  
  
Dionne turned her head towards him, already knowing what he was thinking. "Don't even start wit me Flex, I mean it."  
  
"Okay, okay"  
  
  
  
D.A. laid on her bed, singing along to the music coming out of her stereo. She would have been dancing except; it hurt too much.  
  
Boy You Know You Make Me Float  
  
Boy You Really Get Me High  
  
I Feel Like I'm On Dope  
  
Cause You Send Me On A Wrecking Ball  
  
Boy You Gotta Stroke  
  
Before Drifting Me Deeper  
  
Your There Now Hold Me Close  
  
Boy Let's Take This Overboard Now  
  
I Want You To  
  
(Rock The Boat)  
  
Rock The Boat, Rock The Boat  
  
Rock The Boat, Rock The Boat  
  
(Work It In The Middle)  
  
Work The Middle, Work The Middle  
  
Work The Middle, Work The Middle  
  
(Change Positions For Me)  
  
Change Positions, New Positions  
  
New Positions, New Positions  
  
(Now Stroke It Baby)  
  
Stroke It For Me, Stroke It For Me  
  
Stroke It For Me, Stroke It For Me  
  
  
  
"I want you to rock the boat, rock the boat. . . . " she sang along with the music. She glanced over at the time seeing it was only 5pm. Good! No one would be home for a while.  
  
Trying to dance and not hurt herself at the same time she walked over to her closet, deciding she'd change into her nightclothes and have some alone time, for once! Maybe she'd go rent a movie or something . . D.A. spun around when she felt her door swing open. Holding her shirt to her chest she glared at the person leaning against the door.  
  
Jordan grinned at finally catching D.A. at a loss for words. It didn't happen often!! His eyes ran down her body, noticing the lack of clothing. Reaching over to the stereo he turned down the volume.  
  
D.A. glared furiously at Jordan. "Don't you know how to knock??"  
  
Jordan shrugged. "I did but you couldn't hear me 'cause the music was too loud."  
  
D.A. tried unsuccessfully to put on her shirt without him seeing. "Um... can't you see I'm trying to change here?? Do you wanna leave??"  
  
Jordan stepped inside the room, closing the door behind him. He moved over to the bed and sat down, not removing his eyes from her. "Why........It's nothing I ain't seen before."  
  
D.A.'s cheeks turned noticeably darker.  
  
Jordan's face broke into a small grin. "No one's home, at least not for another 3-4 hours. Flex just phoned."  
  
D.A.'s face turned from feigned anger to a sexy smile in just seconds. "Well then, what am I doing way over here than." Flinging off her shirt and shrugging out of her shorts she jumped on Jordan. 


	7. Scandalous Nature's

Chapter 6  
  
Dionne finished writing the last bank note and stacked all the papers together. She winced; her elbows and knees were killing her. She had washed them, but looking down at them, she could see they were beginning to bleed again. Getting up from the chair, she walked into the store bathroom, looking for some antiseptic or band-aids. She frowned when she couldn't find them.  
  
Walking out to the front to see Kia, she called out to her. "Hey Kia, where are the band-aids that you guys keep for Carla??"  
  
Kia turned to her, from folding clothes. "Oh we ran out last week and I forgot to go to the drugstore, why?"  
  
Dionne pursed her lips. Well that took care of that! Damn! What was she going to do about her bleeding? Sighing, she headed back into the back room, maybe she could wrap them with toilet paper or something.  
  
Kia slid her eyes away from Dee. She doubled over when she felt another pain in her lower stomach. Dammit! She had forgotten about going to the doctor. She looked over at the door when she heard the normal chime that meant a customer. Not seeing anyone walk in she glanced down and saw C.K. run into the store.  
  
Carla ran up to her auntie. "Auntie Kia!!"  
  
Kia would have picked her up, but she was in too much pain. Wincing slightly as the pain began to subside she slowly reached down and picked up C.K.  
  
Dwayne followed behind Carla moments later. He immediately noticed Kia's pained filled face. Frowning he walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek. "What's wrong?"  
  
Kia masked her face quickly. She didn't need the added hassle of Dwayne on her back. "Nothing just pulled a muscle that's all."  
  
Dwayne nodded, noting something a little off still. He watched Carla jump out of Kia's arms and run to the back room.  
  
Stopping swiftly, Carla turned back towards the adults. "Auntie Kia, is Auntie Dee here??"  
  
Dwayne turned back to Kia, suddenly remembering the reason for dropping by. "Yeah, she here yet?? I need to talk to her."  
  
Kia nodded, continuing to fold clothes. "Yeah she's back there." She didn't finish her sentence before she heard C.K. run off.  
  
  
  
Dionne tried unsuccessfully to wrap toilet paper around her elbows. Dammit! She needed someone to help her! She turned around swiftly, when she heard a quiet giggle. She jumped back nearly a foot when she saw Carla holding a hand to her mouth giggling. Bringing a hand to her chest, she let out a breath.  
  
"Dam-Carla you scared me!!"  
  
Carla giggled at her auntie. Why was she putting toilet paper on her arms?? Tilting her head to the side she put her hands on her hips. "Auntie Dee what are you doing??"  
  
Dwayne walked up behind Carla, smirking when he saw the way she was standing. Looking up he caught sight of the reason for her giggles. His lips twitched when he saw Dee with toilet paper hanging off her arms.  
  
Walking up to her he sat down on the chair a few feet in front of her. "What the hell are you doing Dee??"  
  
Carla opened her eyes wide. Daddy said a bad word and he never said bad words. Well if he said it, that must mean it was okay to say now.  
  
Dionne blushed furiously. Why did Dwayne always catch her at her worst moments?? "I guess Flex told you by now, that I fell today."  
  
Dwayne leaned back, swinging one arm over the back of the chair. "Yeah, but that doesn't explain what the hell you're doing."  
  
Carla's eyes opened as wide as they could. Wow! If daddy had said it twice, it must mean it was definitely okay to say.  
  
Dionne removed the paper from her arms and lifted her elbows towards Dwayne. Wincing as the raw skin tightened over the bone.  
  
Dwayne frowned at her elbows. What the hell?? Flex had said she had fallen, not gotten run over by a truck!! He leaned foward, pulling her chair closer to him. He grabbed her elbows and inspected them gently.  
  
"Damn, Dee! Did you get run over or something--"  
  
Carla scowled at her daddy. Now she knew that word was bad. "Daddy. . ." She said in a scolding tone.  
  
Dwayne immediately knew Carla had heard him and apologized. "Sorry baby."  
  
Dee was a little surprised by his concern, and looked at him blankly. "-- No, I just flew 20 feet and landed on my face!!"  
  
Dwayne looked up and studied her face, looking for any cuts. "Anything else get scratched up??"  
  
Dionne shook her head yes. "My knees a little . . ."  
  
"K we'll go back to the house and clean it up. Then you can help me with the business stuff."  
  
Dionne stared at Dwayne, wondering what the hell was wrong with him. What was all the fake concern for?? She felt herself being pulled out of her chair, and followed Dwayne and Carla out of the store. She waved goodbye to Kia. This was too weird.  
  
  
  
  
  
D.A. lay in bed, her head on Jordan's chest. Looking down at her hands, for the first time she felt a little at loss. Sighing she looked up and then looked back down at her hands, she began to nervously fiddle with the covers.  
  
Jordan could feel the tension slowly creeping up D.A. Dammit! He knew that once she got nervous, she was almost impossible to talk to. Moving slightly he sat up against the headboard. Inwardly sighing, he recalled the first time "this" happened. It had been last month, ironically it had happened when he had barged into her room once before. She just come out of the shower and was dancing around naked. At first he'd been speechless. Who'd have known she looked so damn good?? Then came a little teasing, because it was only a few times you'd ever embarrass D.A. Then all of a sudden they had been really close and he had just brushed her hair away from her eyes, and then he'd had the sudden urge to kiss her. Unfortunately for him he did, and unfortunately for him D.A. wasn't just some girl, she was Ice's cousin, and unfortunately for him if Ice found out he'd get his ass kicked.  
  
It hadn't happened again until now, and now where did they go from here?? Leaning his head back, he stared up at the ceiling. He felt like smashing something. He'd tried for so long to keep his hands off her, for a long while he just ignored her. But it didn't work; she was like a drug, a drug that he was obviously addicted to. A drug that was only 16.He felt her move to sit up, and knew he couldn't avoid talking to her forever.  
  
D.A. sat up and turned to face Jordan. She suddenly felt the need to bolt from the room, and she probably would have found a way, except for the fact she was completely naked. Reaching over Jordan's leg she picked her shirt up from the floor and slipped it on. When she looked up he was staring at her, again.  
  
Sighing, she looked down at the covers again. Trying to look anywhere but at his face, trying not to think of what had just happened. "So. . ."  
  
Jordan folded his arms over his chest, a puzzled look on his face. "Why'd you blow up at Flex that day for calling you Alicia?" It was something he'd been thinking about for awhile.  
  
D.A. stiffened, her mouth slightly open, obviously not ready for that question. She definitely didn't like the discussion topic either. "I don't like the name, ok."  
  
Jordan had noticed her sudden coldness, and decided he'd ask her about that later. Knowing that there was definitely something more to it. "So what??"  
  
Disoriented and little puzzled, she didn't initially realize what Jordan was referring to. "What??"  
  
"You were gonna ask something??"  
  
D.A. nodded, remembering now what she had been going to ask. But now she wasn't sure she had the balls. "What, what is going on with--with us??"  
  
Jordan rubbed his face. "I don't know, but I do know that it shouldn't be happening---"  
  
D.A. immediately went on the defensive. "Why?? I'm not good enough for you or something?? Or was I too experienced for you??"  
  
Jordan rolled his eyes, not happy with the direction this conversation was going in. Although, that was another thing, D.A. hadn't been a virgin. But she was only 16, how couldn't she be?? Shaking his head of his distracting thoughts, he got up from the bed and began to put on his pants.  
  
D.A. was fuming. Why wasn't he saying anything?? She watched him get out of the bed, her body beginning to respond only the sight of him. Inwardly she told herself to stop acting like an idiot. But one could easily get distracted off the site of a naked Jordan, his stomach was defined with a 6 pack, and his broad shoulders held muscles she didn't even know one could have and his butt, that was another story all on its own. She threw her hands in the air at his dismissive-ness.  
  
"So what, you're just gonna go, without with answering me?? You are such an asshole you know th-"  
  
Jordan turned around, zipping his fly up with one hand. "What the hell do you want me to say?? I don't know what's going on either! I'm just as confused as you are!"  
  
D.A. sat back once again unsure of what to say. He was probably looking for a way to get out of this. "Look you know, we can just forget about it. It's not a big deal. . ."  
  
Jordan's cheek twitched in response to D.A. What the hell did she think he'd tried to do the first time? He could tell she was trying to read him, but was failing. "Look D.A. I don't have time for these childish games okay! Just say what you want to say."  
  
D.A. felt like punching him. What an arrogant asshole! "Oh so now I'm a child, I don't recall you thinking I was a child a little while ago!" Without warning she flew at him hitting him a couple times in the chest.  
  
"Fuck, D.A. calm down! What if someone comes home and hears you?" He grabbed her wrists together, before they had a chance to go any lower.  
  
"Oh and we wouldn't want that now would we. "Cause that would mean you'd get your ass kicked!"  
  
Jordan remained silent; there was nothing to say 'cause she was telling the truth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that-about the child thing . . ."  
  
D.A. relaxed a little managing to release her wrists from his grip. "Okay . . ."  
  
Jordan sat down on the bed behind her and ran his hands over his face. Tension written all over his face. "I honestly don't know. What do you want? 'Cause you know it's your call D.A."  
  
D.A. turned around to face him, her hands on her hips. "We're not hurting anyone are we??" Not waiting for his response she glanced at the clock. "So how much time do we have??"  
  
Jordan lifted an eyebrow, looking up at D.A. "About an hour and a half, why??"  
  
D.A. smirked. "Why??" She moved forward and straddled Jordan; facing him she pushed him back on the bed. "Because, we shouldn't waste precious time . . ."  
  
Jordan smiled. "I think I like it when you get tough."  
  
"Yeah, well you ain't seen nothing yet." 


	8. Crush's Suck

Chapter 7  
  
Dionne sat at the table with Dwayne, while he ran through their business papers. She ran an unsteady hand through her hair, anytime she was this close to him she tended to get a little nervous. It was a wonder how he never noticed; but then why would he? She was like a fly on the wall to him, he barely if ever noticed her. Sighing, she nodded along as he explained how he wanted his money put into a trust fund for D.A. and Carla.  
  
Stretching her arms out in front of her, she piled the papers up. "Ok, so when do you want this done?"  
  
Dwayne leaned back in the chair, rubbing a hand over his tired face. "How bout yesterday?" he said smiling.  
  
Dionne's heart fluttered at his smile, and studiosly avoided looking at him. "Okay, well then I'll get going now, lemme just say bye to Carla." Standing up she moved out of her chair, heading into the living room where she saw Carla sitting on the floor playing with her dolly.  
  
Bending down in front of Carla, she stroked the little girls hair. "Hey baby, I'm going now ok."  
  
Carla's smile faltered. "Auntie Dee, can't you stay and play??" She stood up on her two little feet and wrapped her arms around Dee. Turning to see her daddy over Dee's shoulder, she frowned.  
  
"Daddy make her stay!"  
  
Dwayne smirked at his daughter standing with her little hands on her hips, and shook his head. She was too much. "C'mere," he opened his arms as she ran to him, and lifted her up to rest on his hip. "Auntie Dee probably has things to do at home, and I just asked her to do something for me, so maybe she'll come by tomorrow and play with you." Looking up, he locked eyes with Dee.  
  
Dionne smiled at Carla but closed herself off when she caught Dwayne loking at her. "Sounds like a good idea Carla," She picked herself up and went over and kissed Carla on the head. "I promise I'll come see you tomorrow." She said, careful not to look at Dwayne, her heart pounding a little at being this close to him.  
  
Dwayne noted how she refused to look up at him, and frowned. He glanced down at her hands, "Those still sting??"  
  
Dionne loked down at her now neatly bandaged hand. "Nah, I'll be alright, thanks anyways." She said, turning around at the sound of footsteps descending from upstairs. She smiled warmly at the person coming down the stairs.  
  
Jordan jogged down the stairs lightly, in a completely good and renewed mood. At least, finally D.A. and him had worked a few things out, but somehow he knew it didn't really solve anything. He was still sleeping with Ice's cousin, who unfortunately was still only 16. Looking up, he prayed for guidance.  
  
Glancing in the living room, he finally noticed the occupants of the room. What the fuck? When did they get here? "Sup Guys, when did ya'll get here, I didn't here you guys come in."  
  
Dwayne put Carla down who ran over to Jordan, and jumped on his leg. " We done been here for a minute now too, what were you doing?" he asked leaned casually against the kicthen doorframe.  
  
Jordan avoided Ice's eyes, "Oh I was just chillen upstairs." Picking Carla up and tickling her slightly, he set her back down on the floor. "You leavin already Dee??"  
  
Carla ran over to her toys. "She's going home, but she promised she was coming back tomorrow." She answered, acting as if she was the only one who knew the answer.  
  
Dionne smiled and nodded at Jordan, confirming Carla's answer. "Yeah, I'm ready to go."  
  
Jordan walked over to the closet and slipped on his black leather jacket. "A'ight I'll give you a ride home than." Walking back over to Dee, he kissed her cheek in a late greeting. Grabbing her waist from behind, he began to push her outside. "But you got to promise, not to scream too loud. 'Cause last time I let you ride wit me on the bike, you nearly broke my eardrum."  
  
Carla giggled, and looked over at her daddy, who was looking at Auntie Dee and Jordan strangely.  
  
Dionne laughed out loud. " Uh uh, see yo ass was driving like a maniac on purpose. And I ain't going on no bike this time, I like to travel safe." She stopped just before he pushed her out the door, and playfully pushed his shoulder.  
  
Jordan laughed and held up his hands in mock surrender. "A'ight, a'ight I won't drive like a maniac."  
  
"Promise?" she asked as she was being pushed through the door again.  
  
Jordan rolled his eyes and made an "x" over his heart. "Cross my heart hope to die." Leaning his head over her shoulder he kissed her cheek soundly, finally able to push her completely through the door.  
  
Dwayne eyed the two as they closed the door behind them. He knew that Jordan and Dee had been friends since they were teens; that was how he'd met Jordan, through Dee, whom he'd met through Karyn. Rubbing his hands over his face, his tired eyes turned cold when he thought about Karyn. Sighing, he rid his head of thoughts of Carla's mother and went back into the kitchen to clean up the rest of the papers.  
  
------------------------------------------------------------  
  
Letty sat with Mia eating lunch at Pollo Tropical, a nice carribean take out restaurant. Sighing she leaned back in her seat, folding her arms across her chest.  
  
Mia stared hard at Letty. She looked tired, not physically but emotionally. "You okay gurl?"  
  
Letty half-smiled. Was she okay? What a loaded question. These past few weeks, even after the sex with Dom. It didn't change anything. It didn't make anything easier. She just couldn't trust him, and that was an easy thing to live with. She just had all this pent up anger, and fuck, she just didn't know how to deal with it.  
  
"I'm a'ight Mi."  
  
Mia continued to stare at her friend. Knowing she wasn't ok, but even though they were close. Letty wasn't the person to just spill her guts, she was private. The whole 'Don't Fuck With Me' attitude, as far as she could see, was a way of Letty stopping herself from ever being hurt. But she knew, that Dom had really hurt Let.  
  
Deciding to change the subject. Mia remembered something Dom had mentioned. "So there's supposed to be this big ass party this weekend. I think we should go."  
  
Letty briefly remembered Dom saying something about it. "Uh yeah, I don't know though. . . We don't know nobody out here gurl . . ."  
  
" C'mon Letty You know your ass loves to dance, and plus Dwayne and them are all going, so they'll introduce us to some people." Leaning forward in her chair, Mia waited for Letty to answer.  
  
Letty tapped the table briefly, thinking about it. Well at least she'd have something to do, and if Dwayne was going it wouldn't be so bad. "Ok Ok , But I hope Dwayne's cousin, D.A. ain't comin, that brat gets on my last nerve."  
  
Mia pushed her chair back, flinging her hair outta her face. She laughed out loud at Letty's comment. "Oh shit, ya'll are too funny. The only reason ya'll don't get along is cause you guys are too much alike."  
  
Letty followed Mia, getting out of her chair. Walking beside Mia she hiked her skirt up a little higher. "You are trippin' cause that bitch, is gonna see my fist in her fucking face if she doesn't quit fucking with me."  
  
Mia shook her head and just laughed. "Uh huh, sure." 


	9. Who's Going To The Party?

Chapter 8  
  
Dionne walked up the steps to Ice's house reluctantly. Jordan had called and told her to get her ass over to the house ASAP. But unfortunately her ass didn't feel like it, but since they hadn't spent time together in awhile, she'd figured it wasn't a big deal. She just hoped Ice wasn't home, because then she would feel awkward.  
  
Seeing that the door was slightly ajar. She pushed at it gently, "Jordan you in here?" Getting no answer she walked into the air-conditioned house. She could hear people talking in the living room. Putting her bag down on a near by table, she sauntered into the room. As she walked in she was startled to see Ice, Dom, Leon, Jesse and Jordan, all laughing at some movie they were watching. Which also had some very very weird grunting sounds coming out of it.  
  
Jordan looked up and noticed Dee walk in, a little surprised. He guessed it was at all the guys being there. He had called her over cause Leon kept talking about how fine she was and wanted to talk to her. Now he looked at what they were watching, and hoped to God she didn't turn her head a fraction of an inch. Leaping out of his seat, he grabbed the remote out of Jesse's hands and pressed stop.  
  
"Oh wassup Dee?? You got here quick." He walked up to her and kissed her on the cheek, then turned to Jesse and motioned to him to take the porno out of the VCR and put in a different video.  
  
Dionne looked suspiciously at Jordan. Why the hell had he called her over?? "Yeah well . . ." Glancing over his shoulder she saw everyone looking at her.  
  
Jordan felt a little guilty about doing this to her, but he wouldn't have if he didn't think it would be good for her to start playin the field. He just hoped that Leon and Dee hit it off, or else someone might be real pissed at him.  
  
Turning around to face the guys, he lifted his eyebrows at Leon. "A yo shit I'm hungry ya'll wanna go get some grub at Popeye's?" He saw Ice raise his eyebrows, and Dom and Jesse nod. Good, they would be gone for a grip if they went to eat at Popeye's.  
  
Leon smirked at Jordan's stupid way of getting rid of everyone. "Know what bro? Why don't ya'll bring something back for me, I'll stay."  
  
Everyone got up except for Leon, and Dionne stood still where she was. Her eyebrow raised and a suspicious look directed at Jordan graced her face. She turned toward Jordan, who was walking out the door. "Well . . . what did you call me over here for Jordan?" Her hand now resting annoyed on her hip.  
  
Jordan flashed her a gorgeous smile, walking out the door with the guys behind him. "Relax Dee. . . I'll be right back," he said over his shoulder.  
  
Dwayne followed behind Dom outside. He was pretty sure that Jordan had meant to leave, but he wasn't really sure why. Scratching his chin as he trotted down the front steps, he wondered why all of a sudden he didn't think he wanted to leave the house with the guys, but rather wanted to stay with Leon and Dee. He must be even hungrier than he thought.  
  
Dionne narrowed her eyes and swore under her breath. Dammit she could have been at home relaxing, and now she was left with some guy that she hardly knew. Turning towards Leon, she gave him an annoyed smile. "Sorry he gets on my last nerve sometimes." She stood awkwardly as Leon watched her.  
  
Leon continued to look at Dionne. Holy Shit, she was fucking hot. He was damned lucky she wasn't seeing anyone. "So we weren't introduced real well huh?"  
  
Standing up he went over to her and held out his hand. "I'm Leon."  
  
Dionne shook his hand a little nervously. Not used to being in big ass house alone with only one other guy, who definitely wasn't on the small or ugly side. "Hi I'm Dionne but everyone calls me Dee." Seeing that he was going to sit at the small table in the corner of the living room she followed and sat opposite him.  
  
Leon watched as she nervously tapped the table. But damn, she was shy huh? It was weird, he didn't thin he'd ever met anyone like her before. Didn't think anyone like her still existed. Good Lord, she was making him nervous too. Reaching out he stopped her tapping fingers. "So you from here originally?"  
  
Dionne looked down at his hand covering hers, "Uh yeah . . . my sister and I moved here from Jersey awhile back."  
  
Leon briefly remembered Dom mentioning that Dionne's sister was Carla's mom. "Oh yeah, that's coo. Yeah I was born and bred in Cali."  
  
"Yeah, did you grow up with Letty and Dwayne too?"  
  
Leon shook his head. "Nah, I met Dom and the crew a little while after Ice left LA."  
  
Dionne nodded. She still felt a little awkward; she sucked at making small talk. "Wha-"  
  
Leon interrupted her, seeing the convo was getting a little weird. "What are you doing in 2 days??"  
  
Dionne was a little startled. "Um . . . Friday right? Oh probably nothing why?"  
  
"Wanna come to a party with me??" Leon wasn't gonna give her the chance to say no. "Everyone's going, it won't be just us . . ."  
  
Dionne was a little taken aback. He was inviting her to go to the party with him. Maybe he had been drinking? "Uh, yeah Jordan told me about it. But me?" she squeaked.  
  
Leon grinned. "Yep, you. So will you come??"  
  
Dionne hadn't originally planned to go and told Jordan that. But now, she kinda liked the way Leon was looking at her, as if he wouldn't go with anyone else. No one rarely if ever, looked at her that way. She grinned back. "Yeah I'll go with you."  
  
----------------------  
  
Kia walked shakily out of the hospital. She got to her car and climbed in. Resting her head on the wheel, she tried to keep her tears at bay. FUCK! She slammed her hand against the wheel. Lifting her head she stared blindly out the window. If only she hadn't come. The doctor had said the harsh stomach pains were probably a flu of some sort. But he'd lied. GOD! What was she going to tell Flex?? What would he do if he knew??  
  
She moved her hand down to her stomach rubbing it gently. She began to rock back and forth, not even knowing she was crying until she felt her shirt getting wet. She couldn't tell him. She just couldn't, there had to be another way to deal with this. Removing her hand from her stomach she started her car, and wiped her eyes.  
  
She'd find another way to deal with it. She had to. Quickly she pulled out of the hospital parking lot, pushing her thoughts to the back of her head for the time being.  
  
----------------------  
  
Letty sat lounging in a chair reading a magazine while she waited for Mia to finish getting her hair highlighted. Yawning, she wished to God she could go home.  
  
Fuck! The team didn't really have a home at the moment. Dom was still working on finding them a place. Mia was working at "Coast 2 Coast" with Kia, and the rest of the team hadn't found jobs yet. They had been in Miami for almost a month. To be honest none of them really felt like working. In fact, she just missed working on cars. They had all painted their cars over, Dom's was now black, Leon's was blue, Mia's was green, Jessi's was silver but she hadn't really wanted to change hers; so it was only a dark shade of purple.  
  
Looking up she saw a robust woman walking toward her. Rolling her eyes, she hoped she wasn't coming to harass her. Looking over the fat woman's shoulder Letty could see Mia walking to her with light brown streaks, that actually looked kinda good. Standing up, Letty pulled her black leather pants up.  
  
The fat woman stopped in front of Letty, eyeing her up and down. "You waiting for someone or here to get your hair done?"  
  
Letty glanced at the woman, under her hooded eyes. "I'm waitin'." She folded her arms over her chest and returned to looking at Mia paying the woman.  
  
The fat woman reached over to touch Letty's hair. "Looks like you need to get yours done too, look at these split ends."  
  
Letty grabbed the woman's hand. "Don't touch me, and if I wanted to get my hair done I would." Letting the woman's hand go, she raised her eyebrow impatiently as Mia finally reached her.  
  
Mia walked up to Letty, looking at her expectantly. "So whaddya think?" Noticing a fat woman walking away from Letty in a huff.  
  
Letty's mouth curved into a smile. "It's tight gurl, now can we go??"  
  
Mia laughed, but was happy with her response. "Okay, okay"  
  
Walking out of the store to the parking lot, they got to the car and loaded the bags in the trunk.  
  
Mia turned to Letty after they pulled out of the parking lot. "So you gonna wear that outfit you bought to the party?? You should, you know you'd attract a lot of attention."  
  
Letty glanced out the side window, her hands on the wheel. "Yea, maybe I will. I'm kinda excited about the party now too." Pulling her sunglasses down low on her nose, she leaned back in her seat.  
  
Mia leaned back too. She wondered if Dom had found any luck with the house. She was getting sick of the hotel, not that it wasn't nice. It just wasn't a home. Sighing, she thought about how much she missed LA. She rolled her head over to look at Letty, "Do you miss it??"  
  
Letty nodded, knowing what Mia was referring to. "Yeah I miss it, but once Dom gets the house. It'll be a'ight."  
  
Mia didn't respond. She still hadn't gotten Letty to open up about her and Dom. She guessed she'd just have to wait. Thank God, the party was in 2 days. There'd be some time to just . . .. chill. She couldn't wait.  
  
----------------------------  
  
D.A. opened her locker glad school was finally done. Pulling out her agenda, she checked off all the homework she had to lug home. Groaning, she remembered she had Chem. homework, which meant carrying that big ass textbook home. Sighing she zipped her bag up, and closed her locker.  
  
Moving through the highschool, she heard someone call her name. Turning around she saw her friend Lina. Stopping she waited for Lina to catch up.  
  
Lina hugged D.A. "Wassup gurl. Dang it's been a minute since I seen yo scrawny ass huh??"  
  
D.A. laughed and moved to the side when she realized they were holding people up. "Yeah I know for real huh?? Dang so what...u still in college?? Why are you back here??"  
  
Lina flung her dark blonde hair over her shoulder. " Oh I had to pick up my transcripts and pick up my lil' sis, and yeah I'm still in college." She looked D.A. up and down, well she had grown up that's for sure.  
  
"So how come you're in summer school gurl?? What class did you fail??"  
  
D.A. smiled. "Nah gurl, I'm taking extra courses. I'm graduating early."  
  
Lina was surprised. Was this the same gurl that when she first got here, never went to class? "Fo real?? Shiiiitttttt, you go gurl." Looking around she turned back to D.A. " My lil sis left with one of her friends, that punk. But you want a ride home??"  
  
D.A. smiled and was relieved she didn't have to walk with all her books. "Yea gurl thanks. So what's up wit you?" Lina had graduated 2 years ago, so she must be around 20. She had grown her blonde hair out and it was down to the middle of her back, but she was still 2 inches shorter than D.A. D.A. motioned for them to start walking.  
  
Lina wondered about a question that was in the back of her mind. "Oh you know, I been livin' it up. So does Jordan still live with you??"  
  
D.A. glanced at Lina and frowned. Why the hell had she asked that? "Yeah, why?  
  
Lina felt her heart start beating normally again. "Oh no reason." Walking out of the doors, she led D.A. to her black Toyota Celica.  
  
------------------------------  
  
"Oh shit, are you for real??" Dionne wiped her eyes. She couldn't stop laughing. Shit! She hadn't laughed like this in a long ass time.  
  
Leon grinned. She was beautiful when she laughed. "Yep, you should have seen Jessi's face. It was priceless."  
  
Dionne put her hand over her mouth, to stop herself from starting another laughing fit again. At first she had thought it would be awkward going with him to the party on Saturday, but now it seemed as if she'd known him forever. He made her laugh and feel really good about herself. They had been talking for almost an hour. Somehow along the way, she'd realized that her best friend probably planned all this. Surprisingly, she was glad.  
  
They both turned their heads towards the sound of the door. The guys were back.  
  
Dionne stood up followed by Leon. She folded her arms over her chest when she saw Jordan come in.  
  
Jordan looked from Dee to Leon and could see that everything had worked out ok. Grinning he handed Leon his food. "Sorry we took so long, you know how it is."  
  
Dionne rolled her eyes at Jordan. He knew damn well why he'd taken so long. She hit him lightly on the shoulder. "You're a jerk you know that right?"  
  
Jordan nodded, unashamedly. "Yep, but you still love me." He moved out of the way as Dom and Jessi walked past him to sit on the couch.  
  
Dwayne stopped behind Jordan. Looking at Dionne, and seeing that she was grinning like an idiot. An hour alone with Leon and she was beaming. An hour alone with him would have been pure torture for her. Narrowing his eyes he noticed Leon slip his arm around Dee. What the fuck?  
  
Turning to Dom, who was sitting on the couch, he growled for Dom to follow him into the kitchen.  
  
Dom raised an eye at Dwayne's all of a sudden, pissy attitude. "What's up bro?"  
  
Dwayne walked into the kitchen and reached into the drawer where he pulled out some papers and threw them on the table.  
  
Dom looked down and saw pictures and details of some houses. "Dope, dang that was quick nigga, I only asked you for some help 2 days ago."  
  
Dwayne shrugged still a little grumpy. He pulled out a chair and straddled it. "Yeah well, just pick one."  
  
Dom lifted his eyebrows at Dwayne, giving him a silent warning not to take out his shit on Dom.  
  
Dwayne leaned back in the chair, nodding in apology for his tone.  
  
"What's up your ass?? A minute ago you were fine."  
  
Dwayne shrugged and sighed. "Nothing. Are you coming to the party this Saturday??"  
  
Dom nodded, and leaned back against the wall, still looking down at the properties. "Yeah the team is comin'. Where's it at again?"  
  
"Oh ya'll can just follow us."  
  
Dom nodded. He glanced up and looked at Dwayne who was staring at the table. Dang, this nigga didn't tell nobody shit. Shaking his head, he returned his eyes to the houses on the paper in front of him.  
  
-------------------------------  
  
Lina pulled up outside D.A.'s house. Parking on the curb, because the driveway was filled with cars. Sliding out of the car, she followed D.A. to the door.  
  
"What are you guys having a party or some shit??"  
  
D.A. laughed. "Uh uh, nah gurl. My cousin has some friends here from Cali. Wait till you meet Letty, ooh that gurl's such a bitch." She opened the door with her key.  
  
Walking inside she set her keys on the rack just inside the door and closed it behind her. Her ears perked up as she heard voices in the living room. Taking off her shoes and dropping her back on the stairs, she walked into the living room.  
  
Lina copied D.A. and followed her.  
  
D.A. was surprised that Dionne was over. Walking into the doorway, with Lina right behind her, she waited for everyone to acknowledge her.  
  
Dionne looked past Jordan and saw D.A. standing there with a familiar girl behind her. "Hey D.A. How was school??"  
  
D.A. smiled genuinely at Dionne. But raised her eyebrow at the hand around Dee's shoulder. Dang, all the good stuff happened when she wasn't home. "Yeah it was a'ight, same shit." She nodded at everyone in the room in greeting.  
  
Jordan turned around to look at D.A. but wished he hadn't. He was struck speechless when he saw who was with her. Fuck! This was just fucking great.  
  
D.A. motioned behind her and moved slightly out of the way. "This is Lina, she's an old friend from school. She gave me a ride home."  
  
Lina stepped forward and waved at everyone. Noting that she didn't know two of the people in the room. "Hey Dionne, long time no see." She turned to Jordan, not surprised that he had gotten even better lookin. She sucked in a breath. Damn, he looked real good.  
  
Dionne smiled and said hello. Suddenly she remembered who she was. Her eyes widened a little. She looked at Jordan, wondering if he'd recalled her. By the look on his face he had.  
  
D.A. looked suspiciously at the look on Jordan's face. She frowned. He hadn't even said hi, the jerk. "What you can't say hi asshole??"  
  
Jordan snapped out of his daze, and shot an annoyed look at D.A. "Why don't you gimme a fuckin chance."  
  
Lina waited to see if he'd acknowledge her.  
  
Jordan faced Lina. "Hi nice to meet you Lina," he said in a toneless and distant voice.  
  
Lina's face fell. So he wasn't even going to acknowledge who she was? Well what did she expect?  
  
Dionne felt bad for the girl. She motioned in the direction of Leon at her shoulder. "This is Leon and the guy on the couch is Jessi."  
  
Lina waved. She turned to D.A., who was watching her openly. "Yeah well, it was nice seeing you girl. I think I'm gonna bounce now." She waved at everyone again and headed for the door.  
  
D.A. frowned. Remembering what she wanted to ask her she followed Lina out to the door. "Hey there's this party on Saturday. You wanna come??" Lina seemed as if she was gonna say no. "See the thing is, Ice probably won't let me go, but I'm going anyways. Everyone's gonna be there . . ."  
  
Lina's green eyes lighted up at the prospect of seeing Jordan again. "Well...okay...."  
  
"Dope. K come by the house at 7pm on Saturday ok. Be ready."  
  
Lina nodded and hugged D.A. bye.  
  
D.A. closed the door behind her and clapped her hands together. Oooh, she was going to have hella fun at the party. Grabbing her book bag she ran up the stairs.  
  
------------------------------------ 


	10. The Party Part I

Chapter 9 – The Party (part 1)  
  
Saturday, 7:30pm.  
  
Dom stood leaning against the room door. Sighing, he checked his watch again. Shit, what was taking them so long to get dressed? He absently tapped his foot on the ground as he waited. If they didn't come out in 20 seconds, he was going to go in and get them. Sometimes he didn't understand girls, fuck that, he never understands girls. It had only taken him 15 mins to get ready. He was wearing his tight black cut off shirt and his baggy black jeans, with his black and red leather jacket.  
  
Looking at his watch again, they now only had 10 seconds. The rest of the guys were outside, and they had sent him back inside to tell the girls to c'mon. They'd better hurry the fuck up or he'd leave without them  
  
---------------------------  
  
Mia stood in front of the bathroom mirror putting on her lipstick, as Letty sat on the bed pulling on her high black boots. "So Let, how you and my bro doing, by the way?" she said while she didn't stop applying her lipstick.  
  
Let didn't even bother looking up, she rolled her eyes. She knew Mia had been waiting to ask her that question. "We're all right Mi, ok, so don't worry." Standing up she stamped her feet, and looked down at her outfit. She hadn't felt like dressing up so she was just wearing her black leather pants and a tight red ¼ sleeved top with a deep v-neck, which complemented her skin tone.  
  
"Fuck Mi, c'mon. It's not like your gonna be with anyone else but Brian anyways." Letty said as she glared at Mia with her hands on her hips. Picking up her sweater she moved to exit the bedroom.  
  
Mia laughed and stepped out of the bathroom, looking for her jean jacket. "I know, I know. But I didn't say I didn't like getting other attention Let." she commented as she found her jacket and followed Letty to the door.  
  
Letty rolled her eyes again. Right. Why hadn't she thought of that? "Uh huh, right. Ok let's go, the guys are probably shitting their pants. You know Jesse and Leon probably wanna find some ho's at the party tonight."  
  
Dom released a relieved breath at the site of Mia and Letty. "Shit, could you guys take any longer?"  
  
Mia threw an exasperated look at her brother. "You know, some people who have "hair" take a little longer, jackass."  
  
Letty smirked and raised an eyebrow at Dom. "Oooh poor baby.." she said while rubbing his head.  
  
Dom grinned. Grabbing Let's hand on his head, he took it in his. "Whatever let's go." With his free hand he pushed Mia in front of him, guiding them outside.  
  
----------------------------------  
  
7:45 pm  
  
Jordan hurredly ran down the stairs. Running into the living room, he began ro ransack the couches. He had been getting dressed when he remembered he'd left his cross on the couch, and he never went anywhere without the chain. Ripping the pillows of the couches, he tried to feel around for it. Groaning, he silently prayed he found it before he left. 'Fuck c'mon where are you?' he muttered to himself.  
  
D.A. walked into the living room, eating a tub of Ben & Jerry's Double Fudge ice cream. She stood close to the wall as she watched as a half naked Jordan bent over looking for -- well whatever he was looking for. She smirked, what a nice view. "Hey JJ, what you looking for?"  
  
Jordan didn't turn around as he moved from the couch to the single chair. Closing one eye in concentration, and kneeling down, he pushed his hand inbetween the chair's hiding spots. "Fuck, I can't find my cross, I know I left it down here." Sighing he stood up and rubbed a frustrated hand over his brow. Dammit! He still needed to get dressed too.  
  
D.A. shoved another spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. "Oh yeah, I picked it up off the couch last night. I forgot to tell you.. . ."  
  
Jordan turned around to face her. So why couldn't she say that when he was looking? Narrowing his eyes at her fake innocent look; he noticed the thick chain around her neck with the cross lying on her stomach. Rolling his eyes he walked over to her.  
  
"You are such a brat you know that?" he said as he stood 2 inches in front of her.  
  
D.A. smilled slowly, showing perfectly straight white teeth. She leisurely shoveled another spoonfull of ice cream into her mouth, swallowing slowly. "Yep I know." She took a step back, her back coming into contact with a wall. "But I'm not giving it back unless you tell Dwayne to let me come with you guys to the party."  
  
Jordan shook his head and folded his arms across his chest. "You never give up huh? He already said no D.A. and anyways, you have to babysit CK."  
  
D.A. mocked Jordan silently. She didn't understand why she had to stay at home while they got to go have their fun. "But u can ask him again……" she whined.  
  
Jordan rolled his eyes at her. He leaned forward and gently took his chain from around her neck. "No. Forget it….." Seeing her pout, he mimicked her sad look. "Just stop, besides, even if you could come who would watch CK?" Raising one hand he rested it by her head. Looking around cautiously, he leaned forward and kissed her lips.  
  
"Stop being such a baby. I promise next time I'll try and get him to let u come." he murmured, his mouth still on hers. Releasing her lips he pulled his face slightly away.  
  
D.A. grinned slightly, licking her lips. This sneaking around stuff was kinda fun. "Sure that'll be the day. But fine go have fun and leave me here, by myself to take care of 'miserable'. I'll be fine," she said, while pushing his shoulder slightly. Sliding under his arm, she walked toward the kitchen. 'I hate you' she mouthed at him, before she went to put the ice cream away.  
  
Jordan grinned, shaking his head as he headed up stairs to get dressed. He had to hurry the party started at 9pm and it took about 45mins to get there.  
  
---------------------------------  
  
Kia sat on Dionne's bed staring at the wall lost in her own mind. How could one thing threaten to completely ruin her life? What if she hadn't gone to the doctor? Then she could have gone on living blissfully ignorant, but she would have noticed sooner or later. God! Flex would have noticed sooner or later. She put her hands in her head. She didn't want to think about Flex's reaction or even her family's for that matter. Especially her brother. Realizing that someone was calling her name, she raised her head and blinked the tears out of her eyes.  
  
Dionne frowned at Kia. She could tell there was something wrong, but she had tried asking and got nowhere. But she wasn't one to pry so she'd left it at that. But maybe she shouldn't; she'd never seen Kia like this. Sighing, she pushed her concerns aside for the moment. She looked down at her attire and frowned. God! She looked like a slut. No worse, she just looked awkward. Groaning she looked at Kia. "This is not gonna work Kia."  
  
Kia smiled. Poor Dionne, the girl was undergoing a complete change from her normal dull wardrobe. "C'mon Dee be adventurous. I mean shit, it's only a skirt that's above your knees gurl. You are 23 years old and you dress like you're 40."  
  
Dionne was taken aback. She did not, did she? Well, she worked at a bank. She had to dress conservatively. Well let's take that back she told herself mentally. She used to work at a bank. Now, she was jobless, and with no job there was no source of income. But she hadn't decided to tell anyone that just yet, or at all. She'd been looking; she'd find a job.  
  
"I do not dress like I'm 40 Kia. Shit, must you exaggerate everything?"She said as she stared awkwardly at her small, prim wardrobe in her closet.  
  
Kia lifted an eyebrow. "Yeah, uh huh. Whatever girl. But actually you look good. Now for the makeup. . . ."  
  
Dionne kept staring down at her outfit. She was wearing a short black skirt showing off her long legs, and a sheer tight black top with a black bra underneath accentuating her rather large breasts. She was a little afraid of what Dwayne's reaction would be. Would he think she was a slut? Groaning inwardly, she pushed herself to remember that she was going with Leon not Dwayne. A smile tugged at her mouth when she thought of Leon. Gawd! He made her laugh, like no one else, and he just made her feel good about herself. She wasn't as self-conscious around him. Shaking out of her trance, she caught Kia's last word. . . makeup…oh good lord no.  
  
Backing away Dionne turned around and walked into her bathroom. "Oh uh uh, u know I don't touch that stuff. . ."  
  
Kia followed Dee into the bathroom, grabbing her makeup bag on the way. "Don't even sweat it gurl, I know you like that natural look, I'm just gonna help you out a little wiith it." Seeing the disbelief on Dee's face. Kia smirked and turned around slightly closing the door and locking it. Turning back to Dee she saw the scared look cross her face.  
  
"Relax Dee, this'll be painless. Just don't move or anything or else I'll screw up."  
  
Dee stared warily as Kia enhanced on her. God forbid, she muttered under her breath.  
  
---------------------------------  
  
8:03 pm  
  
Dwayne looked out the window as he heard Dom honking. Grabbing his keys, he yelled for Jordan to hurry up. Moving into the foyer he grabbed his black jacket, and pulled on his Lugz boots. Fixing his numbered '10' chain around his neck, he opened the door and motioned that he'd be one minute.  
  
His cell phone vibrated against him and hurried to answer it quickly. "What?" It was Flex.  
  
"I'll be back in town tomorrow night dawg."  
  
Dwayne nodded, finally happy to hear from him. "A'ight, was everything straight?"  
  
"Yeah, I got everything. Tell Kia when I'm coming a'ight."  
  
Dwayne looked frustratedly up the stairs, still waitng for Jordan to hurry up. "Yeah yeah, I know. Are you bringing the shit back with you or are you getting it shipped?"  
  
"Nah I'm bringing it. You gon' be home tomorrow?"  
  
"Yeah, we're just on our way to bounce over to Munch's party. Holla at me tomorrow afternoon."  
  
"A'ight then. Tell Kia I love her. One"  
  
"One". Dwayne closed the connection just as he heard another honk from Dom. Looking at his watch it was already almost ten after. They'd better hurry, shit It wasn't like the party was next door. "Yo Jordan, Hurry the fuck up!" he yelled upstairs. He winced as he heard his daughter yell back.  
  
"Daddy, I heard that."  
  
Smiling, he shook his head. "Sorry baby,"he yelled back up stairs.  
  
------------------------  
  
D.A. grabbed Jordan's chin. Narrowing her eyes at him. "Promise me, I won't find out about you and some ho's."  
  
Jordan rolled his eyes. "Promise. Now can I go, before your cousin kills me?"  
  
D.A. smirked and quickly kissed him. "Yeah yeah. Oh and by the way, I will find a way to go to the party!" she said to his retreating back.  
  
Jordan looked up at the sky. 'Will she ever give up?' he muttered under his breath, while he ran downstairs.  
  
----------------------  
  
  
  
Dwayne gave a hard stare at Jordan as he came down the stairs.  
  
Jordan nodded his head in apology. "A playa's got to look good, dang I can't roll up there lookin grimey nigga."  
  
Dwayne didn't answer, he just walked out the door, but a smile was tugging at his lips.  
  
Dwayne walked over to Dom's car. " A yo just follow me. It'll take like 30- 45 mins to get there. It's way out dawg."  
  
Dom nodded. "Yeah, yeah. Let's get rollin then bro."  
  
Dwayne turned toward Letty's car, as she called his name. "Yeah?"  
  
Letty raised an eyebrow at him. "Just curious, who's party is this again?"  
  
Dwayne pretended to strangle her. "Dang girl, I done told yo ass 3 times. It's my boy Munch's. Now follow me." Leaning into the car a little he noticed Mia, and smiled. "Sup Girl?"  
  
Mia smiled back.  
  
Dwayne stood up, looking at the cars briefly as he saw Brian and Jesse in one car and Leon in his, but he wasn't alone. Dionne was with him. Dwayne's eyes turned into coal, and all of a sudden he had a bad feeling. He could only see part of her face, but he knew it was her. Turning from them he walked over and then hopped into his black escalade, already seeing Jordan in the passenger seat.  
  
He pulled out of the driveway, followed simultaneously by Dom's car, and the rest. Clearing his mind, he turned up the volume on his system. Pumping the Neptune's beat of Busta's, what it is. He was going to have a good night; nothing was going to stop him. Not a damn thing.  
  
-------------------------  
  
8:30pm  
  
D.A. finished putting Carla to bed. She had just heard the cars drive away about 10 mins ago. She looked at the clock. It was 8:34pm. Running to her room, she began to undress and change, while reaching for the phone.  
  
"Hey Lina it's me. Yeah I put her to sleep, and I told her 'real' nanny to be here for 20 to. K, hurry up, I'm getting ready."  
  
Putting down the phone, she ran to her closet to pick out her outfit. Wasn't Jordan going to be surprised!!  
  
------------------------  
  
Lina drove to D.A.'s house. She was glad D.A. had asked her to the party. Another chance to see Jordan and maybe talk about their relationship again, is a chance she couldn't miss. 


	11. The Party Part II

Chapter 9 – The Party (Part 2)  
  
Dionne slammed the door behind her as she exited the car. Pulling her skirt down a little she felt a little nervous. She usually avoided parties and stuff like this, just because she could never see herself at one. It wasn't that she couldn't dance or anything, no young dance classes as a child had ensured she could. She just for some reason always felt out of place.  
  
She turned slightly when she felt Leon grab her hand and pull her along to the house. It had taken them an hour to get here. But now that she thought about it, she was glad she had decided to come.  
  
Leon pulled Dee to walk beside him as they entered the house. "C'mon baby this is gonna be fun!" he whispered to her as he sensed her nervousness. Maybe a drink would help her unwind.  
  
----------------------------------------------  
  
9:55pm  
  
Dom threw his arm around Letty, as they walked over to get a beer. He could feel people's eyes on them, noticing that they were new. Grabbing 2 Corona's with his free hand he handed one to Letty.  
  
"Here babe."  
  
Taking the Corona from him, Letty unhinged the cap with her teeth. She glanced over to her right, as she saw some redhead staring at Dom. Fixing her pants that already rested very low on her hips; she took a chug of her beer. A corner of her mouth turned up, as she gave a hard stare to the girl, who turned away quickly when she saw Letty. She was in a good mood tonight, she almost wished one of those ho's would come up to Dom.  
  
Hearing her song 'Oh Yeah' come on by Foxy Brown. She shuffled her feet and faced Dom. "Yo Dom I'm gonna go dance." she said as she put her finished beer down on a nearby table. She began to walk towards everyone else that was dancing. Shit she wanted to get the party started.  
  
Dom smiled, Letty always wanted to dance. He nodded, and watched her ass admiringly as she walked away. He was distracted as someone bumped his shoulder. He turned around slightly to look at the person. It was Dwayne, holding a beer, looking a little pissed.  
  
Leaning against the wall Dwayne watched Leon and Dee enter out of the corner of his eye. Why the hell had she come with him? Since when did Dee go to parties? He turned to Dom and bumped him slightly, motioning over to the other two. "So how'd he get her to come?"  
  
Dom smirked at Ice. "He asked her, jackass." he said dryly while nodding to another girl that tried to catch his attention.  
  
Dwayne frowned. He still couldn't believe she was here. Drinking his beer, he felt someone grab his hand. Turning slightly he noticed an old "friend".  
  
Janine Carter smiled invitingly at Ice. "Hey Ice, long time no see baby. . ." she purred as she stroked his arm.  
  
Dwayne smiled, one that didn't reach his eyes. This was exactly the kind of distraction he needed. "Wassup Janine?" He motioned with his beer at Dom. "This is my boy Dom, Dom this is Janine."  
  
Dom smiled politely not too interested in the invitation that Janine sent him with her eyes as well. "How you doin?"  
  
Janine noticed the disinterest in Dom's face and turned back to Ice. Too bad, Dom was lookin pretty tight, might have been a nice lay. She continued stroking Ice's arm again. "So you here with anyone tonight? You wanna go upstairs?"  
  
Dwayne shook his head. Looking down he saw her hand descending. He nodded towards the dance floor, as he took one last slug of his beer. That was his third one already. "Let's dance first gurl, we can get to the rest later." Nodding at Dom he followed Janine to the dance floor.  
  
Dom shook his head slightly and smiled. Looked like Dwayne was gonna get some ass. But if he wasn't correct, he could almost swear that that wasn't the ass Dwayne wanted.  
  
Looking around he spotted Jordan sitting with a bunch of guys, playing poker. Moving through the crowd he made his way over to him.  
  
--------------------------------------  
  
10:04pm  
  
D.A. jumped out of Lina's car. She was wearing her dark blue almost black jeans, that looked as if the had been painted on and her stiletto heeled boots (which she stole from Kia). And she wore a tight baby doll tank top, with no bra. Her long hair had been curled and rested back on her head with her sunglasses on top.  
  
Turning to Lina as they approached the front steps, she grabbed her arm. "Hey maybe we should go through the back . . ." she said, looking a little anxious.  
  
Lina rolled her eyes, at D.A. Now was a great time for her to chicken out. "Ok, but you are coming in right??" she said, as she followed D.A. along the side of the house. She swore under her breath as she almost tripped on the tall weeds under her $600 BCBG shoes.  
  
D.A. laughed at Lina as she heard her stumble behind her. "Ha ha, and yes I'm coming in, I just wanna have some fun before or should I say if Ice catches me."  
  
Seeing the backlights on, she proceeded more confidently, glad to find they could enter through the back.  
  
"He'll catch you D.A., I'm pretty sure of it. Your cousin doesn't look like an idiot." she said and smiled as she heard D.A. mutter, 'you'd be surprised' in front of her.  
  
D.A. grabbed Lina's hand and almost ran up the wooden steps. She felt giddy; it had been a long time, since she'd been able to get to a party. Especially now that Jordan was gonna be here, wouldn't he be surprised.  
  
D.A. and Lina stopped as they walked in the back door, D.A. because she was scouting the place for her cousin and Lina cause she was scouting for Jordan. Looking around, D.A. immediately loved the atmosphere. The music pounded in her ears and she could feel the bass in her body. She was definitely gonna have fun.  
  
Lina took in the large back room they had entered. On her left she noticed a couple basically fucking on a pole, while three ho's reapplied their makeup in a hallway mirror. The hallway was narrow, and it gave the ho's ample time to brush up against all the guys that kept passing through to get to, it looked like, 2 bedrooms.  
  
In front of her Lina tried to see over everyone standing around, but she wasn't tall enough. But she could tell that's where the music was.  
  
Leaning over to D.A., she had to shout in her ear so the other girl could hear her. "Let's go upfront and get a beer or something." Seeing D.A. nod, she began to push past the people in front of her, noticing the stares from some of the guys, and the not so nice ones from the ho's.  
  
D.A. was itching to get on the dance floor. She opened her eyes wide, excitedly as she heard one of her favorites songs come on. "Don't Mess With The Radio" by Nivea. Dropping Lina's hand she moved out from behind her and almost ran to meet the people 3 feet in front of her.  
  
Lina laughed out loud as she saw D.A. sprint past her. That girl was too much, and she just knew that bringing her here tonight was guaranteed to get her in trouble. But in truth, she had her own reasons for being here, and she wasn't leaving till she got them settled. Grabbing a beer of a nearby table she stood watching D.A. dancing with a cute Latin guy. She had a feeling D.A. would be a little occupied, but she'd still keep an eye on her.  
  
As she turned her eyes away from D.A. she noticed a familiar face. Her heart almost stopped beating in her chest. Her nervous hands had already begun their pattern on the bottle. Taking a quick but large gulp of beer she, moved through the crowd towards Jordan.  
  
--------------------------------------------------  
  
10: 28pm  
  
"Wassup now bitches? I won all the money, and ya'll were just laughing cause I was taking my time." Jordan yelled at the other male players around the table. He spread his hands out in front of him and pulled all the money towards himself.  
  
"Yeah right ese, yo ass was loosin. 'Takin yo time' my ass." another player yelled, as the guys broke out into laughter.  
  
Jordan rolled his eyes. "Don't hate, cause I'm the one with all the cash now, punkass." He yelled back. Turning his chair back around, he leaned back and joined the guys laughing at one of the guys leaving after an invitation from a skank. He'd had plenty invitations so far, and hadn't acted on any of them. He wondered why. Oh yeah, he was sort of involved. He smirked to himself, sort of? Yeah right he was in fucking deep now.  
  
Feeling someone's eyes on him, he glanced up and locked eyes with the one person he did not want to see. 'Fuck' he muttered under his breath. Looking up at the ceiling he mouthed the words 'why me?'  
  
Lina approached Jordan, now standing right beside him. She put her hand on his shoulder lightly, still unsure exactly what she was doing.  
  
Jordan tried to ignore Lina, but knew she wouldn't go away. Catching the guys' expressions, "A yo, I'ma be right back ya'll, DO NOT touch my shit, or I will fuck each and every one of you up. I'm not playin," he yelled playfully.  
  
The guys laughed basically ignoring him, because half of them were twice his size.  
  
Jordan got out of his chair and grabbed Lina's arm, dragging her through the people, passed the couple that was still screwing on the pole, to one of the rooms.  
  
He pushed her inside snapped on the lights, only to find a couple in bed.  
  
Jordan glared at them when their faces locked with his. "Get out, go find another room to fuck in.," he said, while turning around to face Lina, who wore an expression of doubt.  
  
The couple glared back at Jordan. "Hey listen homie we were here first, you can't just . . ." he said but was cut off as Jordan literally picked him up, opened the door and threw him outside.  
  
The girl quickly followed suit.  
  
Jordan closed the door and turned back to Lina. "Why are you here?" he asked coldly.  
  
Lina closed her eyes for a moment before answering." I-I just wanted to talk to you Jordan."  
  
Jordan rolled his eyes. "What exactly about Lina? I didn't realize we had unfinished business."  
  
Lina flushed with anger. "Unfinished business! That's it, that's what you call a fucking year and a half relationship Jordan?"  
  
"We broke up Lina, get over It.," he yelled back at her. "So what, you show up at my crib now, tryna act all friendly and shit with D.A., just so you can talk to me about bullshit??"  
  
"That's just like you Jordan, you're so fucking conceited. No I know D.A., you asshole. Not everything is about Jordan fucking Juarez."  
  
Jordan smirked. "So why are we talking?" he asked in a slightly lowered voice.  
  
Lina took a breath before continuing. " Jordan we never actually broke up, and I never—I never got over you."  
  
Jordan stood silently, folding his arms over his chest. "Listen Lina, you left for college, we agreed to take a break . . ." he sighed.  
  
"But I'm back now—and I just, there isn't anyone else for me Jordan. You were my first everything," she whispered as stepped directly in front of him, close enough to feel the heat coming off his body.  
  
Jordan looked down at her. He shook his head slightly, clenching his teeth. "Look, I know I was—but that doesn't mean that I'm the right person for you Lina. You can't just come back and expect us to pick up where we left off," he said quietly.  
  
Lina's eyes glistened with tears. She knew she had been taking a risk coming here. God all this time, she'd been hoping he'd been waiting for her, but of course not. They had basically broken up, and now she'd made a fool of herself. She couldn't lose him.  
  
She stared up into his hazel eyes, feeling her cheeks getting wet. She moved her hands up his arms and rested them against both sides of his face. "Jordan you can't just pretend we didn't share a year and a half of our lives together."  
  
Jordan kept himself still. Fuck! How did this always happen to him? He stared back into Lina's light green eyes. She was beautiful, and it would be easy to fall back into that pattern. Of being there for her, helping her, being someone else for her. But he couldn't do that again. Not even if he wanted to, he hadn't waited for her, because in his mind they had broken up. And he had moved on with…D.A. Squeezing his eyes shut, he thought about D.A.  
  
He moved Lina's hands from his face, stepping back. "No I can't pretend Lina, but Fuck. It's over ok. I've moved on and you should too. I'm not the same guy you left behind. I'm not willing to be the "perfect boyfriend" for you again," he said with finality.  
  
Lina wiped at her tears. She leaned forward and whispered 'I love you' before meeting his mouth with hers  
  
--------------------------------------------------------  
  
D.A. moved off the dance floor. Not even the tiniest bit tired. She needed some water though her throat was dry. Moving towards the table she glanced around looking for Lina. 'Where the hell had she gone?' Gulping down the water she set the cup down. She tapped her feet impatiently, where the fuck was Lina?  
  
Looking to her left she saw Dionne sitting on Leon's lap while he talked to Dom. D.A. smirked. 'Well, well, well' looks like they were getting friendly, she almost wanted to go over and bug Dionne, but then she remembered. She wasn't supposed to be here. 'Fuck!' she muttered under her breath. Putting her water down, she headed towards the back of the house.  
  
She was about to go upstairs when she saw Ice, coming down with his arm wrapped around some skank. Narrowing her eyes, she knew she'd seen that one around Ice before. Quickly before he noticed her, she turned swiftly on her heel heading towards the other bathroom. She walked quickly down the hall, into the small alcove of rooms.  
  
Not knowing which one was the bathroom she looked around between the three rooms and went for the one on her left. She opened the door bursting into the room, stopping short, eyes wide, as she stared at the scene in front of her. 


	12. Unwanted Revelations

Chapter 10  
  
  
  
Dionne was seated comfortably in Leon's lap, as he and Dom talked. Sipping on beer, which was still quite full after about half an hour, she realized she was having a good time. She smirked, as she knew she probably never would have come to the party if Leon hadn't asked her. Smiling she glanced shyly at Leon, and was rewarded with a kiss on the cheek.  
  
Feeling her cheeks turning red, she excused herself saying she had to go to the bathroom. Trying to get through the crowd of people without shoving anyone, she absently looked down at her watch, noticing that it was almost 11pm, still pretty early. Walking with her head down she slammed hard into someone.  
  
An apology on her lips she looked up and caught the person's eye.  
  
Dionne blushed. " Sorry---Oh hey."  
  
Ice narrowed his eyes at her, running his eyes down her body, acknowledging to himself how good she looked. He couldn't remember ever seeing her in a skirt as short as the one she was wearing. Momentarily he forgot that his arm was around another woman.  
  
"It's a'ight. My bad." He smiled slightly. " You a'ight here, havin fun?"  
  
Dionne swallowed as her heart melted at his smile. Dammit! One smile and she forgot whom she'd come here with. Brushing her hair out of her face, she nodded.  
  
"Uh, yeah…. yeah…you?"  
  
Dionne finally noticed the girl to Ice's right, which he had his arm wrapped around. She could feel the hurt sneakily creeping it's way into her, dampening her mood. God! What the hell was wrong with her? It wasn't as if she hadn't seen this particular ho around Ice before. Clearing her throat and adverting her eyes, she shifted on her feet.  
  
Ice followed her eyes remembering Janine beside him. " Yeah I'm cool. I think I better call home soon though, check on D.A. and Carla . . ."  
  
Dionne lighted up at the mention of her niece. She caught the glare pointed her way from the other woman, and grimaced slightly. " Yeah…. Know what? Don't worry about it. I'll call, I was going to anyway…"  
  
Ice frowned. " You sure?"  
  
Dionne nodded and was about to break away, when she felt a hand on her shoulder, turning she saw Letty grinning with a Corona in her hand, her hair now in a messy pony tail.  
  
Letty grinned at Dee. " Sup Gurl! How you livin? Shit . . .You shoulda seen me I was going crazy on the dance floor." she said while laughing.  
  
Dionne grinned back, glad to see Letty, if not only to get out of her awkward and prolonged conversation with Dwayne. " Yeah I saw you…. I think everyone did." She pointed behind her as she spoke. " Dom's back there with Leon, if you're looking for him."  
  
Letty rolled her eyes and took a swig from her drink. " Oh please, he can be on his own for a little while…well at least until I take a piss." Noticing that Dee's eyes had left hers, she saw Dwayne in front of them with a cheap looking ho on his arm.  
  
Raising and eyebrow and shook her head at Dwayne. " You never learn huh?"  
  
The skank, Janine, wound her arm around Ice's waist tighter. Looking at Letty and Dionne with disgust she smirked. " Ice knows not to let a good thing go. I don't understand why he's standing here talking to Martha Stewart . . ." Looking pointedly at Dionne as she spoke.  
  
Dionne looked away from Janine and cringed. Not hearing Dwayne say anything in her defense, her shoulders dropped. God! Do I really look like Martha Stewart? Shaking off Letty's arm, she made a move to leave, and was about to mumble a goodbye when she heard Letty talk.  
  
Turning her head towards the skank Letty threw her head back, a hard look in her eyes. " Listen skank, why don't you run off before I need to run you outta here."  
  
Ice was a little taken aback at Janine's words. What the . . .?? He had been about to say something but was cut off by Letty. Rubbing he forehead with his free hand he stepped away from Janine. He pointed behind Letty, " Yeah, I'll see you later Janine."  
  
Janine whipped her head to look at Ice. Oh well, he'd find her if he wanted to fuck again. Giving Letty a glare she walked past her.  
  
Letty smirked. " Yeah, go on…get …bitch."  
  
Dionne nudged Letty. " Hey can I borrow your phone?" Seeing Letty's nod, she took the phone from her and moved away from them. " I'm just gonna phone D.A., thanks. I'll give it back later." She spoke quietly, not daring a look at Dwayne, and walked away.  
  
Turning back to Dwayne Letty turned her glare on him. " That how you stick up for you family now Dwayne??" Pushing him in the chest she glared at him again, then turned and walked towards the bathroom.  
  
Dwayne shook his head, rolling his eyes, but still feeling bad. He glanced around the room and saw Dionne heading outside and followed after her.  
  
---------------------------------------  
  
D.A. pushed the door in front of her open. Not prepared for the sight that presented itself.  
  
A couple was standing with their arms wrapped around each other kissing. Ready to walk back out and find the bathroom, she moved to turn around.  
  
"Oh shit, My Bad." She moved to turn away but not before the couple broke apart and she recognized Lina first.  
  
Smirking she folded her arms over her chest. " Well damn Lina . . . I leave you alone for 5 minutes and you're already getting freaky with someone. But do you know where the bathroom is, cause I really need to pee . . ." He words died on her lips as unfortunately for her, she recognized the man Lina had been kissing.  
  
Her eyes opened wide as she looked between the two. " What the fuck??"  
  
Jordan moved away from Lina, swearing under his breath. This was just fucking great!  
  
Lina smiled cautiously at D.A., having no idea about D.A. and Jordan's involvement, but noting her agitation. " Hey . . . yeah we were just. Uh . . . talking."  
  
D.A. narrowed her eyes, her hands clenching into fists. " Juss talking huh? Then how come his tongue was in your mouth??" she said to Lina while staring hard at Jordan.  
  
Lina smiled slightly. Looking between the two, laughing nervously as she added, " Well it was mine in his actually." Her eyes flew open in surprise as D.A. flew at her.  
  
Jordan rushed to grab D.A. by the waist, before she could do any damage to Lina. Trying hard to keep Lina out of harms way, he tried to calm D.A. down. " CALM THE FUCK DOWN D.A.!! JESUS!!"  
  
D.A. struggled against him still glaring at Lina. " CALM DOWN?? CALM DOWN!! SHE HAD HER TONGUE DOWN YOUR THROAT AND YOU WANT ME TO CALM DOWN?" She tried again to reach for Lina. " YOU STUPID BITCH, YOU USED ME JUST SO YOU COULD GET TO JORDAN DIDN'T YOU??"  
  
Lina had taken several steps backward, her eyes still wide, her face now a mirror of confusion and surprise. " Jesus! D.A. What the hell is wrong with you?? Of course I wasn't using you. He's my boyfriend. . . "  
  
Jordan swore out loud. He felt D.A. go still in his arms.  
  
D.A. stared at Lina. Not comprehending, or willing to comprehend what she'd just heard. " He's your what??" With a calmness she didn't know she possessed she wrenched herself away from Jordan, backing away from him, towards the door.  
  
Jordan closed his eyes, tongue in cheek. Fuck! " D.A. . . It's not what it sounds like . . . I haven't seen her for like a year . . ."  
  
Lina still stood shocked, suddenly realizing that there was more going on in front of her. It was almost as if….  
  
D.A. felt an instant of recognition. This was Lina. The Lina he had gone out with for a year. She couldn't believe she hadn't put 2 and 2 together. Her eyes hardened as she turned them on Jordan.  
  
" You piece of shit. You knew when she came to the house that day, and you didn't say SHIT! " She shook her head in disbelief. She was too angry and too hurt, to really think about anything and words just flew out of her mouth. " Oh okay, I see it now. I see it. You're just fucking me for the hell of it right? I mean we never really said that we were together. I mean shit. I'm not anybody important, I DON"T DESERVE THE COURTESY TO KNOW WHEN YOUR FUCKING GIRLFRIEND SHOWS UP AND YOU DECIDE TO GET BACK WITH HER!!!"  
  
---------------------------  
  
Letty was exiting the bathroom, about to go meet Dom, when she heard the yelling from the room next to hers. Usually she would ignore it, but the voice sounded familiar, real familiar. Curious she walked up to it, having a suspicion who was behind it.  
  
"I DON"T DESERVE THE COURTESY TO KNOW WHEN YOUR FUCKING GIRLFRIEND SHOWS UP AND YOU DECIDE TO GET BACK WITH HER!!!"  
  
Letty's eyes widened in shock at what she heard. If this was who she thought it was, this could get mighty interesting. Putting her hand on the doorknob she pushed the door open.  
  
---------------------------  
  
D.A. felt the door open behind her and moved out of the way, still breathing hard from shouting and a shitload of anger waiting to be released. She turned on the stranger, ready to unload. Before rolling her eyes and throwing her hands in the air as she saw who it was.  
  
" Just fucking great, I find out the guy I'm fucking is now back to fucking his GIRLFRIEND and this bitch shows up . . ."  
  
Letty scanned the room seeing Jordan and some expensive looking ho in the room. Her eyes cut upward at D.A. giving her a warning. " Watch your mouth little girl."  
  
D.A. could feel her eyes welling up with tears of anger; she ignored Letty and turned back to Jordan. " Stay the FUCK away from me." turning to Lina she spoke again. " You can have him. He wasn't that good anyway, I've had better." Turning on her heel she pushed past Letty and left the room.  
  
Jordan's jaw clenched at D.A.'s parting words. Which hit one of the questions he'd had about her that had bugged him severely. He glanced at Letty cautiously, knowing she knew what was going on now.  
  
Letty raised her eyebrow at him. " Robbing the cradle huh?? Wonder what Ice would think about that?? 'specially his little cousin." clucking her tongue she looked at the two people left in the room, then followed D.A. out.  
  
-----------------------------  
  
Letty left the alcove of rooms, smirking slightly. She almost felt bad for Jordan, cause if or when Ice found out about this, he would not be happy. She toyed with the idea of telling him. . . . this could get very interesting. She shrugged then scanned the area seeing Dom, standing with a skank whispering something in his ear.  
  
What the fuck?? 


	13. Hearing Is Believeing

Chapter 11  
  
Hearing is Believing  
  
Letty looked around her as she leaned forward on the bar. She was in the middle of nowhere at some sleazy motel, drinking. Glancing around her there were maybe four people there, including herself and the bartender. Sighing she rested her hands on her forehead. She had left the party, needing to get away from Dom, the same old atmosphere.  
  
It wasn't that she didn't love the parties or didn't miss the racing . . . what she didn't love was the constant array of women always parading around Dom. She wanted to say she didn't care, and there was a time where her jealousy was just for show. But ever since the "incidents" she'd never been able to just be with Dom. She was always worrying whether or not he was screwing some other puta, and their relationship had deteriorated fast.  
  
Letty leaned back and tipped her Corona to her mouth. She was tired of the bullshit. She knew Dom wouldn't dare do anything now, they weren't on stable ground yet, but she also knew as soon as they were, well. it would be up in the air. Setting her empty bottle down, she signaled for another one. Shaking her head of her futile thoughts, she grinned slightly as she remembered what she'd overheard.  
  
Jordan and D.A. . . . a couple. Well sort of a couple anyways. She knew that if Dwayne ever found out, Jordan wouldn't live to see another day. Now that she thought about it, it wasn't much different from when her and Dom got together, except she wasn't the obnoxious brat D.A. was, and Dom didn't have anyone to answer to.  
  
She lifted her head as she heard the bar door whoosh open. She could see the silhouette of a girl standing there, getting drenched from the pounding rain.  
  
D.A. walked into the bar, not caring that she was actually underage. She had to get out of the storm, she'd been walking for a good hour and a half. Shaking herself off, she didn't bother to glance around the place, she headed straight for the drinks.  
  
"Can I get a shot of Vodka?" Sitting down, she ignored the bartender's mocking gaze. She didn't care, she wasn't in the mood. She needed a fucking drink. She glared at him until she saw him reach for a glass and the bottle.  
  
The bartender shook his head at the young lady who'd flounced into his bar. "A little wet outside is it?"  
  
D.A. rolled her eyes and hunched forward. Ignoring his attempt at civility. " Yeah . . . the drink?" Grabbing it from his hands she shot it backwards straight into her throat, set it down and motioned for another one. She was gonna get plastered. She was gonna drink until she was numb and didn't have to think about Jordan or that stupid bitch Lina.  
  
" Well speak of the devil?? It's jailbait herself. . ."  
  
D.A., on her 5th shot, pulled herself upright and snarled at the voice she heard. Just fucking great! Not even looking at her she asked for her 6th shot and answered.  
  
"Cut the shit Letty, I don't need or want your crap tonight." D.A. could finally feel the alcohol getting to her. She decided to pay before she forgot. Pulling out her rain soaked wallet she pulled out some money she'd stolen from Kia's drawer. She nodded in the direction of the bartender, " In case I forget."  
  
Letty could see exactly what D.A. was planning on doing, the empty shot glasses were enough proof. She hated the bitch, but Dwayne would kill her if he knew she'd just let his cousin put herself in her grave early. Sighing inwardly she walked over and planted herself beside D.A. Taking in her soaked clothes and drooping hair she smirked in disbelief. " You walked here, all the way from the party??"  
  
D.A. ignored her. She was concentrating on keeping her head upright. She failed.  
  
Seeing D.A. plant her face on the table, Letty groaned. Fuck! She didn't want to baby-sit. She thought about taking her back home, but that would mean she'd have to go back as well and she wasn't ready to do that either. Plus she'd just rented a room for the night anyway. Tilting her head she thought . . .Maybe she could leave D.A. here and let her sleep it off. Glancing around she saw the old man in the back, licking his lips and staring at the two of them. No go on that idea.  
  
"Alright enough." She glared at the bartender who'd started to pour another glass. Couldn't he see the chick was fuckin drunk enough already? Grabbing D.A.'s arm she pulled her upright. " Let's go . . ."  
  
D.A. wrenched her arm away. " No I don't wanna . . . whhhheeerrre m'I gon go anyways? My famwee hatesssss me and the onwee perssson I coulllddd call , woullldd kick my assssss." While she spoke, or tried to. She barely noticed herself being pulled along, and out of the bar.  
  
Letty was getting REALLY frustrated with D.A. who wasn't walking but dragging herself on the floor and up the stairs. As she reached the room, she let go of D.A. only to hear her thud to the floor. Rolling her eyes she opened the door, and dragged the girl inside, managing to get her on the cot sized bed.  
  
" You must be the fucking most ANNOYING brat I've ever fuckin' seen!! You're fucking tanked beyond belief." Letty shook her head and debated whether or not to take off D.A.'s shoes or soaked jacket. Seeing D.A. begin to shiver she decided against her better judgement and painfully removed the girls' jacket.  
  
D.A. could feel the air hit her in a cold rush once her jacket was off. Kicking off her shoes she pulled her self under the covers, almost falling off the bed.  
  
"You know Lettweee you'ree not such a beeeeotch after all. Not like that ho leeeeeena . . ." Her voice was muffled as she hung off the side of the bed.  
  
Letty sank down on the bed, she'd started to get a headache. " Shut up, and sleep it off D.A. I'm not in the mood to chitchat."  
  
" . . . she was Kiissssssssinggg MYYYYY man. Jordan is MYYYY man. She's lucky I didn't kill 'er." Working herself up she flailed and fell off the bed onto the ground in a confused muddle.  
  
Letty glanced at her but stayed where she was. She smirked at D.A.'s words. "Oh Yeah ey? You've been a naughty lil girl huh?? Don't you know if Ice ever finds out, he's gonna kill Jordan??"  
  
"Nuh Uh, Iceee doesn't know about the other stuff that happened to me. Iceeeee doesn't know anyyyyyy-thinngatall." D.A.'s head hung down as she spoke, her back against the bed, her knees to her chest.  
  
Letty grinned. There was more??? Leaning back on her elbow, she peered down at D.A.'s head. "What else does Ice not know ??"  
  
D.A. ignored Letty's question and continued talking. " Dwayynnnee, thinks I'm little miss innocent. Jordan thoughts I wass to, but noooppeee. Theyyy donn'ttt know about Jesseeee."  
  
Letty's eyebrows raised in surprise. Jesse? Who in the hell was that? "Who's Jesseeeeee?"she mocked.  
  
D.A.'s shoulders hunched, her body tensing even in her state of unawareness. "Asshhhholllleee. I hattteeee Jessseee.. he wanted me to call him daddyyy.. He .He."  
  
Letty didn't move. "D.A.?"  
  
"He used to beat uss, all of us.. he was the worstt fosster dad. He.he.. did it. He made meee dirty." D.A. swallowed, she could feel her eyes swimming and her body was now convulsing. She couldn't stop herself.  
  
"I wasss gonna run away, than Icceee came and found meee. Deewaaynne, don't know nothin. You can't telll 'em, he won't wanna keep me anymore. Everyone wouulldd feel sorryyy."  
  
Letty had sat up quickly at D.A.'s drunk confession. She'd been raped? She couldn't believe it. Dwayne had told he'd found out about her when D.A. was 13. She'd been only 13 when it'd happened. Letty ran her hand through her hair. She was not equipped to deal with all this outright emotion. Looking at D.A.'s shaking shoulders and bowed head, she couldn't help herself as she moved down to comfort her.  
  
She sat beside her their shoulders touching , nothing else. Letty could feel D.A.'s shoulders droop and the crying was subsiding. Fuck! What was she gonna do now? Tell Dwayne or keep quiet. She didn't even like D.A. She sighed and rested her head back against the mattress and closed her eyes.  
  
"I won't tell anyone." 


End file.
